Coinbase warns of a phishing scam that affected over 6,000 users

Leading crypto exchange Coinbase has revealed that it was a victim of a large-scale email phishing attack earlier this year. According to the publicly traded company, over 6,000 of its clients fell victim to the scam with their funds being drained from their accounts by the fraudster. The fraudster asked clients for users log-in credentials and believing that they were in contact with the exchange, the clients willingly gave away their credentials. The attack was said to run between March and May 20, 2021, a time when the market was performing exceptionally well.

Unfortunately, between March and May 20, 2021, you were a victim of a third-party campaign to gain unauthorized access to the accounts of Coinbase customers and move customer funds off the Coinbase platform. At least 6,000 Coinbase customers had funds removed from their accounts,

The exchange says that it remains unclear how the fraudsters got the clients information. “We have not found any evidence that these third parties obtained this information from Coinbase itself,” wrote the exchange. However, the exchange has taken proactive action. It notes;

We immediately fixed the flaw and have worked with these customers to regain control of their accounts and reimburse them for the funds they lost,

Furthermore, these clients will be refunded by the exchange.

Price reaction to Coinbase news

Despite the revelation, the crypto market has remained stable. In fact, the total market cap has in the last 24 hours gained more than 6 percent. This has particularly been boosted by Bitcoin which has gained nearly 7 percent in the last 24 hours according to our data.

At the time of press, the crypto king is exchanging for $47,800 and ever edging closer to the $50K psychological position.

Coinbase stock (COIN) is also seemingly unaffected by the latest revelation. COIN was trading at $231 at the end of the week. This however remains a long way from its debut days when the shares reached an all-time highs of $350. The exchange’s performance has largely been affected by the crypto market’s slump which has led to fewer new entries and reduced revenue from trades.