Hacked Crypto Accounts Are Sold by The Thousands on Dark Web Forums, Despite Recent Crypto Downturn

Popular among cybercriminals

Hacked crypto accounts are some of the most frequently sold items on dark web markets and forums.

Below is an example of a forum listing advertising the selling of such accounts:

The sold accounts are usually verified and ready to send and accept payments. Most of them contain sizeable cryptocurrency account balances as well.

Lack of account security is the primary casuse of hacks

The methods hackers use to steal users’ cryptocurrency accounts vary from social engineering attacks to sophisticated phishing and email spam.

Spam emails pretending to be from actual cryptocurrency exchanges are the primary cause of such hacks.

This works by unsuspecting users opening spam emails and clicking on links that lead them to fraudulent websites that look identical to an actual cryptocurrency exchange.

There, users will enter their login credentials, which will be saved and sent directly to the hackers, who will immediately log into the user’s actual accounts and change the password.

Unfortunately, many users use the same password for all their online accounts, meaning that hackers will often be able to take over users’ email addresses.

This then prevents users from resetting their passwords once their accounts are compromised.

When such a hack happens, usually, it’s almost near impossible for the affected person to recover their cryptocurrency accounts or stolen funds.

Stolen accounts are used to commit various crimes

However, the theft of funds is not always what hackers are after when taking over peoples’ crypto accounts.

A verified crypto account can be extremely valuable to a cybercriminal, as this way, they will be able to purchase illicit services online such as hacking tools or controlled substances, under the identity of a real third-party person.

This could cause serious problems for the persons whose identity was used for those purchases, as they could become prime suspects in various criminal investigations and cases.

As such, cryptocurrency traders should take their account security seriously.

Crypto trading accounts should never have the same password as any other password used by their owners.

Likewise, Two-Factor Authentication should always be enabled so that even if hackers manage to obtain an account’s password, they will be unable to access the account.