According to ME News, on August 2 (UTC+8), a Bitcoin and Litecoin holder provided a 12-word mnemonic phrase to attackers impersonating Trezor support staff, resulting in the theft of approximately $282 million in assets, including about $139 million in Bitcoin and $153 million in Litecoin. Blockchain forensic firm ZeroShadow stated that the incident originated from a social engineering attack, not from a compromise of wallet software or private key infrastructure. The stolen funds were split within minutes via the THORChain cross-chain bridge and converted into Monero through instant exchange services. ZeroShadow’s monitoring team identified and froze approximately $700,000 within 20 minutes. Under the BIP39 standard, a 12-word mnemonic phrase contains approximately 128 bits of entropy, while a 24-word phrase contains 256 bits. Chainalysis estimates that up to 23% of all mined Bitcoin—amounting to millions of BTC—may be permanently inaccessible due to lost keys, caused by forgotten mnemonic phrases, damaged backups, or lack of inheritance planning. (Source: ChainCatcher)
$2.82 billion in Bitcoin and Litecoin stolen through a Trezor impersonation scam
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Summary
Bitcoin news: On August 2 (UTC+8), a user fell victim to a Trezor impersonation scam and disclosed their 12-word mnemonic phrase, resulting in the theft of $2.82 billion in Bitcoin and Litecoin. The attackers used the THORChain bridge to split the funds and convert them to Monero. ZeroShadow confirmed it was a social engineering attack, not a wallet compromise. The company froze $7 million within 20 minutes. Bitcoin news reports the incident underscores the ongoing risks associated with private key security.
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