“Is Mark Cuban’s Wallet Just Running Out?”: Billionaire Loses Nearly $1 Million in Crypto Scam. What happened and how can you avoid Cuba’s costly mistake?
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban lost nearly $1 million in cryptocurrencies — and it’s possible he was a victim of a widespread scam that all Americans need to be wary of.
The possibility of a major theft was first reported on September 15 by a blockchain observer on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“Is Mark Cuban’s wallet just depleted? “Wallet inactive for 160 days and all assets just moved,” user WazzCrypto posted on the platform along with a screenshot showing a series of transfers – all within a few minutes – from a digital wallet called Cuban.
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Cuban confirmed his misfortune to crypto news portal DL News. The billionaire businessman and investor believes he downloaded a questionable version of the popular crypto wallet software MetaMask “which had some things in it.”
He told the outlet: “I used MetaMask for the first time in months. You must have been watching.”
In total, about $870,000 in ten cryptocurrencies were withdrawn from Cuban, according to DL News.
It remains unclear exactly how Cuba’s wallet was hacked. He has not made any public comments and did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
It’s possible that the version of MetaMask he downloaded was a Trojan horse – a type of malware that masquerades as a legitimate program and can give hackers access to your network, files and data. There’s also the possibility that hackers gained access to his account through phishing, meaning he was tricked into revealing his login details.
Even digitally savvy people like Cuban, who became a billionaire at age 40 in 1999 during the dot-com boom, can fall victim to cyberattacks.
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What is Phishing?
Phishing is an attempt by hackers or cybercriminals to trick people into sharing sensitive personal information – such as usernames, passwords, credit card details and Social Security numbers – which they can then use to exploit or steal from you.
They do this by sending malicious emails, text messages, or even phone calls from seemingly trustworthy sources, such as a colleague, acquaintance, or an organization such as a bank or the IRS.
Most of these emails or messages aim to trick victims into clicking on a questionable link that asks them for certain login details or other personal information.
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Phishing has proven to be a very popular and lucrative scam for fraudsters. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 800,944 complaints in 2022, resulting in over $10.3 billion in damages. Phishing programs were the number one crime type, with 300,497 reports, and for the first time investment programs reported the highest financial loss to victims.
IC3 reported that victims ages 30 to 39 were the largest reporting group, while the largest dollar loss occurred among citizens age 60 and older.
Achieving complete cyber security is very difficult, but here are some ways you can reduce the risk of falling for common lures and becoming a phishing victim.
How to protect yourself from fraud
First and foremost, you need to educate yourself so you understand what a phishing email or malicious link might look like.
In email forms, scammers usually use a subject line that tricks you into opening the message, such as: E.g. a warning, an update, a required action or a request for information. For example, you might receive an email from someone pretending to be from your bank asking you to log in using a questionable link (which could steal your login details) to update some information.
There are ways to detect fraudulent messages. You should always check the sender’s email address for unusual spellings or email domains. They often try to look like a legitimate domain so as not to arouse suspicion, but may have a small difference, such as a number or symbol instead of a letter (e.g. name@gmai!.com).
The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency warns to watch out for generic greetings (such as “Dear Member,” “Dear Account Holder,” or “Dear Customer”), spelling or layout errors, fake hyperlinks, and suspicious attachments.
Whether you’re using email, social media, or just browsing the Internet and thinking about clicking on a pop-up ad, you should never download an attachment, application, or even a software patch if you’re not sure what it is You could unintentionally download a Trojan horse.
Likewise, before clicking, you should always hover your mouse over a hyperlink to see where the link takes you. Similar to shady email domains, it’s easy to spoof URLs through misspellings and other anomalies.
Finally, there are digital hygiene practices that every American should adopt. Wherever possible, you should consider using multi-factor authentication (MFA) to gain access to your online applications and accounts. Beyond entering your username and password, MFA requires other verification factors such as: B. a PIN from an SMS or a phone app to gain access.
You should also make every effort to keep your digital software and Internet browsers up to date and install appropriate anti-virus software. While none of these measures are completely fail-safe, they can save you from a costly slip-up in the future.
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This article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as advice. The provision is made without any guarantee.