Coinbase hacked, sim swap - please help
This is what happened with me around 1am last night... My phone connection turned off, my email address had a password reset request, my coinbase had a password reset request, 2 transfers initiated on my coinbase account, email address change initiated on coinbase account (1 transaction to purchase 5k worth btc and another to convert some other coins in my account to btc)... after this obviously I had no clue of what else happened. I had a backup email associated with my primary email, hence I recovered my email address. Upon calling coinbase support, the automated message told that they locked my account. I had to wait until morning for bank account and phone connection. In the morning I alerted my bank and contact phone company. The phone company suggested that my sim card was turned off by imposter and another one activated. They went on to re activate my sim card. My bank said that they would cover me with unauthorized transactions like the 5k mentioned earlier. Although, only coinbase could cover me with my crypto. I have sent many support emails and created a ticket with coinbase, could anyone pls suggest a good way to contact them? I really need to get my account back. I had hodl it for 2021. I have just started earning money. I cannot afford to lose my crypto balance. Anybody at coinbase here? Please help me. I keep sending emails, nobody responds. The support phone number never gets me to a human being. Friends, please dont use phone or text msg validation as a step in email or other password resets. It turns out that phone numbers are easily hacked. Please be safe out there. I am devastated this happened to me. Somebody at coinbase please help, I have advised so many friends to use your platform. I really need help to access my account. Thank you.
Yep, this is why you at least use google authenticator. Phone companies will give up your number with little info and no wait time. At least now you know. Good luck
You know I had setup Google authenticator with coinbase a few weeks ago. Hence, I am shocked they could get in my coinbase account by just email address. I am devastated. You may not understand, this is the lowest point for me. I didnt need this.
If you had set it up then they could not have been able to access your account. Not sure why you are devastated though? It's a pain but you caught it so what's the big deal?
Can’t say I’m surprised or anything but I’m sorry this happened to you. Not sure how complicit the bank is going to be about crypto fraud..
Wtf? How does this happen? Was you email hacked too? How was the 2fa set up?
People that only use phones for 2fac are easily hacked. The hacker just calls up the phone company and transfers your number to their phone. Hits password reset and then enters the code from the text. Super easy.
Coinbase user myself. I have 2fa set up with Google authenticator, but I also need to validate an email link if I want to log in on a new machine. OPs story just doesn't seem plausible to me.
This has happened to me before. It sucks
What did you do? Were you able to gain access to coinbase or your exchange account again?
I ended up getting in contact with the FBI
You have 2 issues. 1- you left your coins on an exchange that is the dumbest thing to do. Get a hardware wallet like Ledger Nano. 2- for 2fa avoid text based auth. Always go for an authenticator app which generates a token.
Agreed.
Please don’t use sms messages, even CB employees get sim swapped so often. Switch as much as you can to U2F/Yubikey or at least authenticator. For the CB account you should get access back however can’t see how to realistically get your crypto back, there’s no way to reverse transfers unlike banks.
Thank you for replying. I was hoping I could claim unauthorized transactions and coinbase could give me back from their insurance. Hoping that is what Facebook was mentioning on this thread. In terms of getting access back, how do I get in touch with someone. I keep getting standard email saying they will get back to me.
Any news ?
What cellular network?
T-Mobile
That’s rough. Any update? Assuming you didn’t get anything back?
Sorry this happened to you. What other kind of validation do you suggest? I though phone was the safest
If you are talking about crypto, please spend some effort and time into looking at hardware wallets. Generally, I would recommend protecting accounts by 2 different email accounts. It turns out phones are very easily hacked. Somebody can pose to be you and claim that you need a new sim card for your number and get it. It means you get deactivated, and they get activated. Then they can go ahead and do what they want with it. If your phone is not used to protect other accounts for password resets, you can be safer. Hope it helps my friend. Thank you for your support.