Ledger Fake Customer Support

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Ledger

Back in 2018, Ledger had the handle "LedgerHQ" on Twitter and wasn't a verified account. A malicious user created an account "LedgerHQ_admin" and piggy-backed on one of the Ledger updates to announce a fake giveaway. This was the standard ploy where users were promised 10 times what they sent to the scammer's address. Of course, no funds were delivered. Many users reported the issue and the account was eventually removed, but not before a lot of users had fallen for the scam.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About Ledger

"Based in France, Ledger is the largest cryptocurrency hardware wallet company." "Ledger is a hardware cryptocurrency wallet that is used to store, manage, and sell cryptocurrency. The funds held in these wallets are secured using a 24-word recovery phrase and an optional secret passphrase that only the owner knows."

"Ledger offers two products, the Nano S and Nano X, that can store the digital keys used to secure crypto wallets. The devices can be used with a variety of cryptocurrencies, are compatible with numerous apps, and are supposed to offer a safe way to manage crypto without compromising too much on convenience. Ledger says on its website that it has sold 1.5 million products to customers in 165 countries to date."

"Announcing the new Ledger Wallet desktop and mobile applications: a sneak peek to the new all in one application replacing our Chrome apps." "Also with this announcement, we're giving 5000 ETH. To identify ur address, just send 0.4-2 ETH to the address below and get 4-20 ETH back to the address you used for the transaction. If you are late, your ETH will be sent back."

"Scam warning: @LedgerHQ_admin is a fake account. Please don't take into account their tweets. We have alerted @Twitter and the account should be shut down shortly."

"People are still sending money to this account. What can be done about the people that were scammed?"

"We'd like to share with you that our Twitter handle has been changed from @LedgerHQ to @Ledger! We're now @Ledger. Please help us inform our incredible community by retweeting this post."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - Ledger Fake Customer Support

Date	Event	Description
February 23rd, 2018 5:40:00 AM MST	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost is unknown.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

Nobody is going to give you free cryptocurrency based on you giving them some first. Stop and think before sending funds to anyone.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.