Key Takeaways
- Victim lost $2.8 million in bitcoin after sharing seed phrase.
- Scammer impersonated a senior UK police officer in the attack.
- Police urge public to never disclose recovery phrases to anyone.
UK Victim Loses $2.8M in Bitcoin to Fake Police Officer
An elderly person from North Wales has accidentally given away as much as $2,838,586 worth of bitcoin due to a social engineering scam. The disclosure says the offender pretendedq to be the head of the UK police and then tricked the victim to disclose their crypto wallet seed phrase.
In the best scenario, the cyber crook supposed to be a North Wales Police officer that the victim’s ID was located on the phone of a criminal and that they should “secure” the digital funds. The victim was taken to a sophisticated phishing site where they unwittingly typed in their recovery phrase. Instantly, the money was transferred out of their wallet.
Rise of Social Engineering Scams in Europe
Usually, a seed phrase is a set of 12 to 24 words that are the keys to a crypto wallet. Once someone has access to it, they can transfer the money right away. Police warn that no officer and no official organization will ask for it. The advice to victims is to hang up on suspicious callers and check who the caller is by calling the 101 non-emergency number.
The security firm TRM Labs, which works with blockchains, has reported that a theft of private keys and phishing of seed phrases were the two major modes of crypto asset theft, which together made up more than 80% of all the cases in the first half of 2025. The UK case is yet another of the many scams that are negatively impacting Europe, where France has recently announced several occurrences of so-called “wrench attacks” i.e., physical assaults on crypto holders to make them give access to their wallets.
Summary
The $2.8 million bitcoin theft in the UK highlights how cybercriminals exploit trust through impersonation and phishing. Police stress that recovery phrases should never be shared, regardless of who requests them. As social engineering scams escalate across Europe, crypto investors must stay alert and adoptx stronger security practices.
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