20L gone in minutes: Woman falls prey to crypto wallet hack

Bengaluru: A 29-year-old woman's cryptocurrency savings vanished overnight after hackers allegedly breached her MetaMask wallet and siphoned off digital assets worth over $21,377 (around Rs 20 lakh) within hours.According to the complaint filed by a Rikisha (name changed), a resident of Electronics City, she previously worked with a blockchain company till 2024. A part of her salary had been paid in cryptocurrency over the years.By April 28, 2026, her holdings in a MetaMask wallet, including WBTC, Ethereum, Arb, and USDC, were valued at nearly $21,377.According to Rishika, the theft occurred in the wee hours of April 28. Between 2.30am and 4.30am, a hacker allegedly transferred the entire balance from her wallet to another account. How her account was compromised is yet to be ascertained.The fraud came to light when Rishika received transaction notifications on her phone. Alarmed, she immediately began tracing the movement of the stolen funds using blockchain tracking platforms such as Etherscan and Arbiscan.She found that the hacker had consolidated the stolen assets into accounts linked to the KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange.Acting quickly, she contacted KuCoin's support team and requested an emergency freeze on the suspected accounts. The exchange reportedly froze the funds temporarily and informed her that, according to their regulations, funds can be frozen only for seven days and a law enforcement agency (LEA) E-form would be required to recover the assets.The KuCoin team also confirmed that it was a hacking incident and suggested that she recover the funds.Rishika has now approached the South-East Cyber Crime police, requesting authorities to coordinate with the exchange and trace the hacker. A case has been registered under the Information Technology Act and BNS sections 318 (cheating) and 319 (cheating by personation). The complainant has provided the details of her wallet address and the hacker's transaction details.SAFETY TIPS TO FOLLOW-Enable two-factor authentication on all crypto exchange accounts and related email accounts.-Use a hardware wallet for storing large amounts of cryptocurrency instead of keeping funds in hot wallets.-Avoid clicking on unknown links, pop ups, or fake airdrop offers that may steal wallet credentials.-Regularly update wallet apps, browsers, and antivirus software to protect against malware attacks.-Keep separate wallets for daily transactions and long-term savings.-Use strong, unique passwords for crypto related accounts and avoid reusing passwords across platforms.