Have you received a direct message on your social media platform like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Telegram where the sender reveals their trust wallet key and asks for assistance in making payments? Be alert! It can be another trust wallet scam where you might lose your money.
SCAM ALERT: Don’t act on it too quickly, if you see someone leaking a private key.
Beyond original projections, the cryptocurrency sector has expanded since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009. Cybercriminals have taken notice of the pseudonymity aspects of cryptocurrencies, and they are already using them to carry out potentially untraceable scams. Scammers are always coming up with new cryptocurrency-based schemes to steal your money, and they are still utilizing some tried-and-true scam techniques. One of the most common methods con artists use to get you to buy Bitcoin and deliver it to them is through investment scams. However, scammers also use other strategies, such as posing as companies, authorities, or romantic interests.
But the scam that we are going to talk about is different. It’s not the commonly used scams like investment, impersonation, or blackmail scams. It is a new type of scam that is more like baiting where the scammer sends you their trust wallet key (passphrase) and private key (password). Then the sender requests you to assist them in making the transactions. There is already a large sum of coins in the wallet, which lures you into stealing the coins. When you try to make the transaction to your account, you have to load the transaction fee, which is the amount you are going to lose in this case.
How does this Trust Wallet scam work?
When you log in to that wallet, you can see more than $1000 USDT in the account. At this point, you get greedy and would rather try to steal that money instead of helping the person who messaged you. The transaction requires TRON (TRX) as a network fee. The wallet does not have enough TRX to complete the transaction. So you load the TRX fee required to transfer the USDT amount. When you load TRX, the TRX amount is automatically transferred to another wallet in no time. It’s the point when you lose your money. This is also known as the Trust Wallet Tron multi-signature scam.
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how this works.
1. Messages Revealing Trust Wallet Key
First of all, you get a message where an unknown person shares his/her trust wallet key and says that he/she needs assistance to transfer the amount that is in the wallet.
The typical message looks like this.
This message is real and you can check that the wallet exists. If you log in to that address, you can see the USDT amount already in the wallet.
2. Not Enough Network Fee (Gas)
The account is set up in a way that there is less or nearly zero Tron (TRX) amount. If you try to transfer the USDT, the required network fee (gas) is not enough, and the message “You don’t have enough Tron (TRX) to cover network fees” appears on the screen.
Since the transaction requires TRX as a network fee, you tend to load the required TRX amount to complete the transaction.
3. Transaction Automation
Tokens and coins sent to a trust wallet address can be automatically and silently transferred to another address. This is known as transaction automation and it can be done with scripts or trust wallet bots, which you can either create or buy.
Here, the transaction automation feature is applied in the wallet and when you send any coin to that address, it gets transferred to another account in no time. It happens so fast that you won’t have enough time to use that TRX as a transaction fee and transfer the USDT to your account. Manually, you can’t beat automated transactions.
4. MultiSig Wallet
A wallet that needs the signatures of multiple users in order to perform transactions is known as a MultiSig or multi-signature wallet. It resembles a double lock mechanism exactly.
Let’s say, by any means, you were able to beat the automated transaction bot. Still, you can’t complete the transaction. It’s because the wallet is MultiSig, i.e., it requires a signature from another user to validate the transaction. So, there is no way you can transfer (or steal) the USDT that is in the wallet.
5. Your Greed
Here, the main reason that people get scammed is their greed. When someone shares their trust wallet key with you and asks for help, you become greedy and try to steal the coin that is in the wallet. If you can control your greed, you are safe from these types of scams.
Is it even a scam?
One question may arise here. That is, “How can we say it is a scam?” The person is not asking for money or any transaction. There is no sign of it.
Yes, we can say that it is not a scam, but rather your eagerness and greed that are responsible for your loss. But the primary intent of the person who shared the trust wallet key is to scam you rather than ask for help. So, it can be labeled as a scam.
Key Takeaway
If you receive a message from a person containing a trust wallet key and any other sensitive information, it might be a trust wallet scam. Think carefully before making any transactions with that account.
6 Comments
My was not greed, the person message me on telegram that is doing giveaway that should i go and withdraw any amount of usdt, before others will withdraw them because he shared his phrase to many people for the giveaway/contest, so I make research if that is new way of scam but I found nothing about it, so I have to deposit Tron (TRX) and that’s all,all the Tron get transferred to another account instantly
Was it only tron but what about the usdt
Hello sir, I am a javascript developer. Is there any way that i hacked this walet which i have got from the scammer.
come?mi puo insegnare?
Please is there any way I can turn off the MULTISIG WALLET, I just want them to stop stealing from the needy or giving false hope to people ?
I have a similar problem, this person sent me a couple trust wallet keys and asked for my help to help them get access to their wallet because her ex locked it by stealing. I have emails saying I need to add 650 USD to make the withdrawal she initiated.