Crypto scammers stole over 1 million British pounds ($1.2 million) from nine residents in Kent, England, after gaining access to their personal information from a data leak.
On March 1, Kent Police urged residents to be vigilant against ongoing cryptocurrency fraud attempts. Bad actors accessed the Kent residents’ personal information and misused it to generate fake reports from the United Kingdom’s national reporting center, Action Fraud.
“Personal details were taken from the data leak and used to generate fake Action Fraud reports,” the police said.
Scammers created fake reports and then posed as law enforcement to contact potential victims. The victims were informed that they were under investigation and would be receiving a call from the “crypto wallet host.”
Creating fake police reports using leaked user data
All victims noted that they received a second call in which a “security officer” coerced them into sharing their crypto wallet seed phrases. A seed phrase is a 12- or 24-word combination allowing crypto wallet access.
“With that information, the fraudsters…
