Users were scammed into the phishing attack on Localbitcoins | CryptoNews

The cybercriminals have managed to trick a group of users through a phishing attack on the p2p bitcoin trading platform, Localbitcoins. The information was confirmed by the startup itself via a publication in its social network account Reddit, this Saturday, January 26.

According to the statement an "unauthorized source" managed to access user accounts and send transactions. According to some Reddit users, the criminals allegedly stole the entire bitcoin funds from the victims.

"We were able to identify the problem related to a feature activated by third-party software and stop the attack," explains the publication of Localbitcoins. It also states that, until now, six affected users have been confirmed, even though they are still investigating this fact to determine the exact number of casualties.

A redditor who identifies as bitcoinbabeau explained that when he accessed the Localbitcoins forum, the attacker would ask users to log into their account, as if they had been disconnected, and redirect them to the phishing site. Once there, he asked them to enter their two-factor authentication codes (2FA) and clear their accounts.

When it was alerted, Localbitcoin suspended outbound transactions to process the case. In his statement, he states that, although withdrawals have been activated again and the connection is secure, the platform forum will remain closed until further notice.

One of the victims posted on reddit the address where they sent their stolen bitcoins, which were recording up to now 5 incoming transactions during the attack. Operations add up 7.95 BTC, just over $ 28,600 at current price. However, it is likely that the attacker used more than one address to send the stolen funds. This figure would not be definitive.

Localbitcoins did not reveal any other technical details of the attack. However, some users think that attackers "used a script type to use the 2FA code entered by the user to remove the bitcoin".

At the end of 2018, the Electrum stock exchanges also suffered a phishing attack. In this case, the attackers used a fraudulent update to access the victims' funds. Said attack losses accounted for nearly a million dollars in BTC for users.

One of the most common phishing methods is the DNS spoofing. The best way to protect yourself from these types of attacks is to always check the URL of the page on which they are located to verify that there are good official websites. In addition, it is important to check the icon next to the URL, which allows you to check if the page has a secure connection.

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