Sigh... I guess it had to happen eventually, after all crypto is that sort of Wild West place! Despite being pretty cautious when it comes to most things crypto... well, eventually I managed to fall for a scam. And although there were mitigating circumstances... well, I only really have myself to blame in the end.
As always, most of these things are going to happen when you are tired and distracted... or being a touch greedy... for me, it was a bit more of the former and a touch of the latter. Most of my crypto life has been all about avoiding the greed... but, in this case... I just jumped a bit too easily due to tiredness.
So, lets set the scene... my kids have been sick this week, so less sleep than usual... plus, a long month and a bit of lots of travelling and work... so, even less sleep! Anyway, that was my state today... just a little bit tired and distracted, and normally, I would just avoid doing anything too taxing on the brain, like crypto transactions.
There was a notification from an announcement channel of a trusted and respected protocol. The team had put out a notice that there was a whitelist for an NFT for something or other (the memory blurs...). Normally, I just ignore these messages... I get my kicks (and the occasional drop...) just from using things rather than chasing after extra bonuses. Sadly, this time... I was just drinking my coffee... and I thought, why not, I try this out. So, I hopped on the laptop and connected my Metamask, and signed a transaction...
Now, I was a little bit weirded out by the transaction request... which looked a little bit strange to me. And I should have twigged that something was up... but again, in my tired state... I just thought it was strange, and left it at that. I really should have read the transaction carefully, as it was obvious in hindsight.
Anyway, I signed the transaction... then was completely weirded out to see another transaction request pop up... hmmm, I rejected and... now, I was really suspicious. A claim should only take a single signing... and come to think of it, it should just be a regular signing, and not a transaction request!
Oh poop... and that was when I got a ping from Forta, which has my wallets on notification for any activity.... and there were several events when there should have only been one. An approval, transfer, and then a delegation change. I checked Etherscan... and yep, a batch of ENS tokens had left my wallet to a scam address. Poop... immediately, I revoked the approval event and double checked that nothing else was taken/approved.
In the 5 or so hours that the scam was active, roughly 220 ETH worth of assets were drained from different wallets. Ouch, that is over half a million USD... and I'm not sure that that is complete either.
So, what happened... it appears that a core team member appears to have had their Discord compromised... and then posted an "official" announcement, and anyone who tried to flag it got kicked and banned and everything was covered up with the admin powers.
Sigh... this is rough lesson. Never do anything in haste, and never when you are tired. The amount I lost stings... but I will survive. Thankfully, it didn't drain the whole wallet... just the ENS tokens. It is a decent deal of money, but it is more my pride that is hurt...
... my wife says that I shouldn't worry about it, seeing as it is just funny internet money anyway, and that it was lucky that it wasn't "real" money. In many ways, I also agree... it is money that I had as a "bonus"... so, I'm not worse off than before I received it. But it still stings... I guess that is human nature.
... and things could have been much much worse... I'm lucky I got stung in a relatively small way. People lost a whole lot more than I did!
So, I'm now an interested bystander... seeing how all of this will be cleared up and handled by the community and protocol team. There are no "obligations" in crypto... it is all personal responsibility... so, I don't EXPECT anything. But there is always the non-quantifiable traits that don't appear in accounting and economic sheets... and that is where the team and community are now operating and determining... what they stand for, when the poop really hits the fan. When there is no obligation, do you look after your own... or cut and run?
I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x
Handy Crypto Tools
Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
WooX: The centralised version of WooFi. Stake WOO for fee-free trades and free withdrawals!
GMX.io: Decentralised perpetual futures trading on Arbitrum!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
