Witty-Season-3914 Double Scam Recovery

Crypto.com Exchange

Witty-Season-3914 sent 7,000 ADA to a website which promised that their cardano would be doubled. After initiating the payment from their account within the Crypto.com platform, they immediately regretted their decision and contacted Crypto.com within 10 minutes. They reported that in this situation they received their initial funds back within 45 minutes.

About Witty-Season-3914

Witty-Season-3914 is a working mother with two children from Fort Collins, Colorado. She has a background in oil and gas as a mechanical engineer for over 8 years. She reportedly has a strong financial education background and has previously run a franchised brick-and-mortar business for 2 years.

TBD: Review when Archive.org is back online.

About Crypto.com

Crypto.com was founded in 2016. As of November 23rd, 2021, the platform served over 10 million customers worldwide.

"CRYPTO.COM EXCHANGE. Trade with confidence on the world’s fastest and most secure crypto exchange." "The World’s Fastest Growing Crypto App" "Buy crypto at true cost. Buy and sell 250+ cryptocurrencies with 20+ fiat currencies using bank transfers or your credit/debit card." "Join 10m+ users buying and selling 250+ cryptocurrencies at true cost. Spend with the Crypto.com Visa Card and get up to 8% back. Grow your portfolio by receiving rewards up to 14.5% on your crypto assets."

Crypto.com shares a strong brand vision for their platform.

"Powered by cryptocurrency, the future of the internet: Web3 will be more fair and equitable, owned by the builders, creators and users. You." "We believe it is your basic right to control your money, data and identity."

Like most platforms, they have a full page on their security policies and procedures.

"Security First. Always." "Our commitment to our customers is built on trust. We believe that security and data privacy are the foundations of achieving mainstream cryptocurrency adoption."

Crypto.com had recently been pushing hard into the US market with viral advertising stunts including actor Matt Damon, and a $700 million purchase of the naming rights to the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers Arena. On November 23rd, 2021, Crypto.com announced their SOC 2 compliance. Jason Lau, Chief Information Security Officer of Crypto.com, made a statement at the time.

“Crypto.com is a leader in security and compliance, including our recent SOC 2 announcement, Crypto.com [recently became] the First Cryptocurrency Platform to Achieve SOC 2 Compliance, ISO27001, ISO27701, PCI:DSS 3.2.1 (Level 1), and Highest “Adaptive” maturity levels for the NIST Cybersecurity Framework and NIST Privacy Framework." Crypto.com "successfully completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Audit, conducted by globally recognized audit and consulting firm Deloitte, which affirms that Crypto.com’s information security practices, policies, procedures, and operations meet the SOC 2 standards for security, availability, confidentiality and privacy."

The Reality

There is no service presently known to double invested funds from users. Promising to double cryptocurrency sent to a celebrity is a common scam tactic used to trick users into sending their funds to a scammer.

What Happened

Witty-Season-3914 reports that they initiated a transaction for 7,000 ADA to a scam address, and immediately had doubts. They were able to contact the support on the Crypto.com exchange which resulted in the return of their funds within 45 minutes.

Key Event Timeline - Witty-Season-3914 Double Scam Recovery

Date	Event	Description
January 11th, 2022 5:56:59 AM MST	Incident Posted On Reddit	Witty-Season-3914 reports on their situation that they fell for the doubling scam. "I am only posting it because I hope to get roasted, and because smart people are dumb too."
January 11th, 2022 4:12:54 PM MST	Update Posted On Reddit	Witty-Season-3914 provides an updates post on Reddit, including confirmation that they successfully recovered their funds. "from the time i sent it, to the time i got it back was about 45 minutes."

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost was reported as 7,000 ADA.

The closing market price for cardano on January 11th, 2022 was $1.19 USD.

Based on this information, the loss has been estimated at $8,330 USD.

Immediate Reactions

Witty-Season-3914 reports immediately realizing their failure and contacting Crypto.com to retrieve their funds.

"Sent 7000 ADA to a sketch address that said they would double it… once i sent it i knew I [mess]ed up."

"it was a sick feeling."

"i tried calling and it referred me to the app[lication] chat."

Based on the analysis of the situation, the funds do not appear to have entered the blockchain. It seems reasonable that the payment had either been flagged by Crypto.com's security, or that there was a delay implemented on all outgoing withdrawals.

Ultimate Outcome

Witty-Season-3914 reports a successful recovery of all funds within 45 minutes of their original payment.

"[I] don’t know how they got it back[. I] tried calling and it referred me to the app[lication] chat. [I] was able to get ahold of someone and within 10 minutes it was back in my account. [F]rom the time [I] sent it, to the time [I] got it back was about 45 minutes."

Total Amount Recovered

All funds were reportedly recovered within 45 minutes.

The total amount recovered has been estimated at $8,330 USD.

Ongoing Developments

All funds were recovered and there is nothing remaining to be concluded on this case.

Individual Prevention Policies

This case does not appear to have resulted in a loss to any individual.

Individuals need to take care and ensure that any offer they receive is from a trusted individual and makes reasonable sense. In this case, the offer of funds being doubled doesn't make financial sense. It would not have taken much digging to determine that this is a common fraud.

Every approval on Web3 is an opportunity to lose all of the funds present in your wallet. Take the time to review the transaction in full. Fully check over the balance, permissions, and entire address which you are interacting with. Do not trust that your clipboard or any website front-end is guaranteed to provide an accurate address or transaction status. Always perform a test transaction prior to the first high-value transaction in any session.

Any time that you are promised any profit or benefit in exchange for an initial payment, smart contract approval, or deposit, pay special care as to whether the entity making that offer is trustworthy, actually who they say they are, and has the means to fulfill what they're promising. There are no magic algorithms providing guaranteed returns from trading or mining. Trading on average will lose money. Mining is expensive and complex. No one is going to immediately send back more than you sent them. NFT projects will rarely announce a surprise mint in only a single location. Are you fully prepared for the event your money is kept and nothing is delivered in return?

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

Platform Prevention Policies

This case does not appear to have resulted in a loss to any platform.

Wallet providers and exchanges can provide information to users on common scams to help users avoid losing funds. Platforms can work together to set up an industry insurance fund which could compensate victims and assist with fund recovery.

Never take for granted the limited knowledge of users of your service and their tendency to skip past provided information. It is recommended to design a simple tutorial and quiz for new users which explains the basics of seed phrases, strong password generation, secure two-factor authentication, common fraud schemes, how ponzi schemes work, as well as other risks which are unique to the cryptocurrency space. This tutorial and quiz should ensure their understanding and be a standard part of the sign-up or download process which is difficult or impossible to skip.

Work with other industry platforms to set up a multi-signature wallet with private keys held separately by delegate signatories from seven prominent platforms and services within the industry. Establish requirements for contributions by all platforms and services, designed to be affordable for small platforms yet large enough to cover anticipated breach events. Any breach event can be brought forth by a member platform or a petition of 100 signatures for consideration by the delegate signatories. A vote of 4 or more delegate signatures is required to release any funds, which could partially or fully restore lost funds based on their assessment.

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

Regulatory Prevention Policies

It does not appear that any funds were lost in this case.

Regulators can provide more information to users on common scams to help users avoid losing funds. Regulators can work with platforms to set up an industry insurance fund which could compensate victims and assist with fund recovery.

Create a standard tutorial and quiz for all new cryptocurrency participants, which is required to be completed once per participant. This tutorial and quiz should cover the basics of proper seed phrase protection, strong password generation, secure two-factor authentication, common fraud schemes, how to detect and guard against phishing attacks, how ponzi schemes work, as well as other risks which are unique to the cryptocurrency space.

Set up a multi-signature wallet with private keys held separately by delegate signatories from seven prominent platforms and services within the industry. Establish requirements for contributions by all platforms and services within the country, designed to be affordable for small platforms yet large enough to cover anticipated breach events. Any breach event can be brought forth by a member platform or a petition of 100 signatures for consideration by the delegate signatories. A vote of 4 or more delegate signatures is required to release any funds, which could partially or fully restore lost funds based on their assessment.

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