Beware of scammers! ????

As cryptocurrency begins to go up there will be an increased amount of threats for loss of crypto. As an example while I was out on the town last night I received a phone call from some random phone number claiming to be a representative from Coinbase. This person stated, that there was suspicious activity from my account and asked if I was attempting to complete a transaction. They gave me a specific cash value of the alleged transaction. I immediately said, ‘no, I’m hanging up this phone call now’ and I opened my email. I had received two new emails for attempted password resets. Given the suspicious phone call and the emails I immediately locked the account using the Coinbase security tab on the app. I was signed out on all my devices and even I didn’t have access so I stopped worrying about the situation.

I’m certain that I was the target of a vishing scheme and that the attackers failed because I didn’t give them any information. Keep in mind though that these scammers were sophisticated enough to get my email address and phone number. Not a complex task but it certainly is a foot in the door to taking control of somebody’s crypto currency account.

Another point I would like to make is that although locking my account with Coinbase did ensure that nothing would be moved from the account I still currently do not have access to the account. KYC which is the 3rd party company that is responsible for verifying your identity after your account has been locked may be one of the most incompetent organizations ever. I provided them with everything they asked for and they said they weren’t able to verify me. It almost seems like their whole ideology is to keep their liability low by just not letting anybody recover their account. Also of note the rep I spoke to from Coinbase today did state that Coinbase will never call you.

To all the cold wallet maxis and the not your keys not your crypto crowd; you’re right. However if your bag gets big enough there will come a time when you will want to use a fiat off-ramp to cash out some of your stash to buy real life items so keeping those ramps secure is of great significance to all.