Two high-profile executives from MoonPay, a cryptocurrency payments company, found themselves victims of a scheme that led to a loss of $250,300.
Incident Overview
According to a filing with the US Department of Justice, scammers tricked Ivan Soto-Wright, co-founder and CEO of MoonPay, and Mouna Ammari Siala, the company's CFO, into transferring funds to an account controlled by someone they believed to be a prominent developer, Steve Witkoff.
Scammers' Methods
The scammers employed a tactic known as 'typosquatting' by creating email addresses that were nearly identical to legitimate ones to deceive their targets. In this case, emails were sent from steve_witkoff@t47lnaugural.com and financersvp@t47lnaugural.com. Despite lacking a hacking component, the scammers effectively utilized email manipulation to steal the funds.
Consequences for MoonPay
The incident raises concerns regarding internal security measures and oversight within MoonPay, particularly if it is confirmed that the victims utilized official company wallets for personal or poorly vetted transactions. Despite this situation, MoonPay recently obtained a BitLicense, allowing it to operate across all 50 US states.
This incident highlights the importance of vigilance in digital security, even for executives in companies operating within the crypto economy.
