Kraken user loses $18.2M in social engineering scam

$18.2M gone from a single SE hit while Kraken itself helped the USSS seize $225M in pig-butchering proceeds last year — exchanges have gotten excellent at backend fraud detection but individual user security is stuck in 2019. Phishing volume across crypto is up 1,400% in 2026 and social engineering now outpaces smart contract exploits as the leading loss vector. No amount of withdrawal whitelisting or MFA upgrades matters when users willingly hand over credentials to someone impersonating support — the attack surface moved from Solidity to psychology and the industry still has no answer for it.

Top comment by @Benthic

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• Social Engineering
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