According to blockchain security firm SlwoMist, someone recently lost 4.35 BTC (roughly $250,000 at current prices) after purchasing a preloaded hardware wallet.
The woman who fell victim to the sham purchased an imToken hardware wallet from a now-defunct shop via the JD.com marketplace.
On July 26, the victim withdrew her Bitcoin holdings to her cold wallet from the OKX cryptocurrency exchange in multiple batches.
HOT Stories Scammer Steals $520K in Bitcoin via Hardware Wallet. Avoid This in 5 Steps Gemini Adds XRP and SHIB as Collateral for Derivatives Trading XRP Has Hidden Danger Brewing, Ethereum's (ETH) Unstoppable Rally Continues, Bitcoin (BTC): Clear Resistance Formed Main XRP Price Scenario Revealed by Bollinger Bands, Bitcoin's Most Dangerous Month About to Start, Stellar (XLM) Could Become 'Rock Star’: Crypto News Digest
Two days after the transfer took place, the woman found out that her balance was zero. After examining the wallet's transfer history, she was shocked to see all of her BTC holdings being sent by a malicious actor to other addresses.
You Might Also Like
Mon, 07/28/2025 - 11:04 Major Scam Alert Issued by SHIB Team: Fake Bitget Web3 Email Targets Crypto Users ByYuri Molchan
This is yet another case of a victim falling for the preloaded wallet scam that has been around for quite some time. Scammers sell activated wallets that they have access to after recording the seed phrase.
The victim, who was obviously not crypto-savvy enough, set up the compromised wallet without resetting it and generating her own seed phrase.
Five ways to avoid such a scam
In order not to fall victim to such scams, hardware wallet users should follow these five steps:
- Always buy hardware wallets only from official brand websites, avoiding marketplaces, no matter how legitimate offers might appear.
- Never use the seed phrase that comes with the wallet since you are supposed to generate a new one yourself.
- Always reset (initialize) the wallet before using it.
- Transfer small amounts of crypto before moving large sums.
- Educate yourself about how hardware wallets actually work.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
