Mark Cuban Falls Victim to $870K Crypto Scam

Mark Cuban suffered a significant loss of approximately $870,000 due to a crypto scam that unfolded

American entrepreneur, investor, film producer, and TV personality Mark Cuban suffered a significant loss of approximately $870,000 due to a crypto scam that unfolded late on September 15. The suspicious activities within the MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet, named 'Mark Cuban 2' on EtherScan, were first identified by on-chain investigator Wazz. Remarkably, this wallet had remained dormant for over five months, as reported by CryptoSlate.

Wazz took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the discovery, humorously remarking, "Lmao, did Mark Cuban's wallet just get drained? Wallet inactive for 160 days and all assets just moved." Mark Cuban later confirmed that he had lost five Ethereum (ETH) tokens, valued at approximately $8,170 at the current market prices. Additionally, he revealed that the scam also resulted in the loss of other cryptocurrencies, including USD Coin (USDC), Polygon (MATIC), Lido staked Ethereum (stETH), as well as tokens from SuperRare and Ethereum Name Service.

Mark Cuban recounted the incident to DL News, stating, "Someone got me for 5 ETH. I went on MetaMask for the first time in months. They must have been watching. I'm pretty sure I downloaded a version of MetaMask with some [malicious code] in it."

According to Cuban, the breach occurred when he accessed his account via his mobile phone with the intention of performing some maintenance. He remained unaware of the illicit activity until he was contacted by DL News. Subsequently, he took immediate action to secure his other assets by either locking them up or transferring them to alternative platforms, including the leading U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase. Fortunately, none of his other accounts fell victim to the cyberattack.

Cuban elaborated, "MetaMask crashed a couple of times. I just stopped. Then you emailed me. So I locked my NFTs (non-fungible tokens) on OpenSea. Transferred all my Polygon holdings from the compromised account. Since I was only working with the account that got hacked, none of my other accounts were compromised."

This unfortunate incident serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present risks associated with the crypto space, even for high-profile figures like Mark Cuban. It underscores the importance of maintaining vigilance and practicing stringent security measures in the world of digital assets.