User loses $282M in one of the largest social engineering crypto heists

The crypto user was reportedly deceived by an attacker impersonating Trezor support, tricked into revealing their hardware wallet seed phrase.

A crypto user has lost more than $282 million worth of Bitcoin and Litecoin in one of the largest social engineering attacks ever recorded in the crypto sector.

The theft occurred on Jan. 10, 2026, at around 11:00 pm UTC, after the victim was tricked into revealing their seed phrase linked to a hardware wallet, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT. The attacker gained full control of the wallet and rapidly moved the funds across multiple networks to obscure the trail.

According to ZachXBT, 2.05 million Litecoin (LTC), currently worth $153 million, and 1,459 Bitcoin (BTC), now worth around $139 million, were drained. The attacker immediately began converting the stolen assets into Monero (XMR) through several instant exchange services, triggering a sharp spike in XMR’s price as well.

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