Binance has warned its users about scammers after a victim lost $91 million in a similar attack.
Summary
- Binance has warned its users about scammers impersonating its support
- One user lost $91 million in Bitcoin from a similar attack
- ZachXBT says that attackers don’t appear to be from North Korea
Scammers are increasingly relying on human error to steal funds. On August 21, crypto investigator ZachXBT reported that one user lost $91 million in Bitcoin (BTC) to a social engineering scam.
On Aug 19, 2025 a victim fell for a social engineering scam and lost 783 BTC ($91M) after exchange and hardware wallet customer support were impersonated.
The stolen funds began to peel off and deposits to Wasabi were made by the threat actor.
Coincidentally this theft… pic.twitter.com/gglShNo2UC
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 21, 2025
According to the investigator, the attack, which happened on August 19, was a social engineering scam. Scammers impersonated both the victim’s crypto exchange and hardware wallet support via text messages.
They used this fabricated trust to get the victim to share critical information, which gave the attackers control over the funds.
Binance warns that scammers are targeting its users
ZachXBT did not reveal which exchange the attackers targeted. However, following the attack, Chinese crypto reporter Colin Wu reported that Binance issued a warning about the same type of scams to its users.
Binance: Scammers are sending fake SMS messages pretending to be from Binance. They want to trick you by saying your account is “at risk” and make you call fake support telephone numbers or click dangerous links. Binance will never reach out directly via SMS or phone calls. If… pic.twitter.com/IZtYb5c9Zk
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 21, 2025
According to Binance, attackers send unsolicited text messages to users, pretending to be from the exchange. Typically, these scams try to make it seem that the user’s account is at risk.
For instance, the messages will warn users that a new device from an unknown location has logged into their accounts. Similarly, the text messages also warn about supposed transfers.
In all cases, attackers prompt users to either call the “support” number or log into a fake website. From there, they are asked to share account information, enabling scammers to take over their wallets.
According to Hacken, social engineering scams led to $600 million in losses in the first half of 2025. This was about 19% of all losses across crypto platforms in the same period.
