Dallas Mavericks Owner Lost Nearly US$1 Million in Cryptocurrency Online Scam
Renowned billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, recently found himself at the center of a common online scam, resulting in a substantial loss of nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency.
Concerns regarding a potential significant theft were initially raised on 15th September by a vigilant observer in the blockchain community on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“WazzCrypto,” a user on the platform, posted a screenshot exposing a series of rapid transfers out of a digital wallet bearing Mark Cuban’s name, accompanied by the comment, “Did Mark Cuban’s wallet just get drained? Wallet inactive for 160 days and all assets just moved.”
Cuban confirmed the unfortunate incident to DL News, a cryptocurrency news outlet. The billionaire businessman and investor suspects that he unwittingly downloaded a compromised version of the popular crypto wallet software, MetaMask.
He explained to the outlet, “I went on MetaMask for the first time in months. They must have been watching.”
According to DL News, a total of approximately $870,000 spanning across 10 different cryptocurrencies was siphoned from Cuban’s wallet.
The exact method employed by the hackers to breach Cuban’s wallet remains unclear. As of now, he has not made any public statements regarding the incident and has yet to respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
One possibility is that the version of MetaMask he downloaded may have been a trojan horse, disguising itself as legitimate software while providing hackers with unauthorised access to networks, files, and sensitive data. Another potential avenue is a phishing attack, wherein the victim is deceived into revealing their login credentials.
Anybody can fall prey to cyber scam and attacks, even individuals with a high level of digital savvy, such as Mark Cuban, who ascended to billionaire status during the 1999 dot-com boom at the age of 40.
Source: https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/
