Wow, it’s so disheartening to hear about the Coinbase customers that are up in arms after hackers emptied their wallets.
An increasing number of users or customers of the highly popular Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase found out that their accounts on the platform emptied after hackers managed to gain access to them and drain their Cryptocurrency.
It was even said in a report by CNBC, that the news outlet interviewed some Coinbase customers across the US to discover thousands of complaints from customers. For instance, the case of one Tanja Vidovic who logged onto the service only to discover that $168k in Cryptocurrency had vanished after hackers were able to take over their account.
Coinbase Customers Are Up In Arms After Hackers Emptied Their Wallets
Coinbase customers that are up in arms after hackers emptied their wallets resulted in so many unwanted circumstances. Like the story of the Tanja Vidovic that I earlier mentioned above that was unable to reach Coinbase for support after the incident occurred.
While banks now engage in live chat as well as email and telephones to provide customer support, the popular Cryptocurrency Company only responds to customers via email. It’s not at all encouraging as they need to do more than that.
Although Coinbase did initially offer live chat for support, the feature was phased out around the year 2016 though according to a recent blog post, it plans to re-add live chat to its platform. Furthermore, Coinbase plans to continue to expand its customer support team to better serve its customers.
Money Vanished Reports by Victims
The Vidovics’ account had risen to $168,596 on April 28 when the hacking occurred, according to account statements the Vidovics shared with CNBC. That amount was essentially wiped out, with only a $587.15 balance shown the next day.
Like the Vidovics, Ben, a Virginia resident who asked that his last name be withheld, said he saw thousands of dollars vanish. He logged onto his Coinbase app in March, verifying his identity with two-factor authentication, but over a four-minute stretch almost $35,000 in various coins disappeared from his account, he said.
In a response to his frantic email, Coinbase told Ben his computer had been hacked and there wasn’t anything the company could do. “I really am baffled,” he said. “It just seems to me that Coinbase did absolutely zero research and just said, ‘Hey, yeah, sorry.’”
CFPB Response to Some of the Victims of the Hackers
The CFPB responded to one of Ben’s ensuing complaints with an answer from Coinbase’s Regulatory Response Team. The email noted that transactions on the Blockchain are irrevocable and said Coinbase’s insurance policy does not cover theft from individual accounts.
“There is no credible or supportable evidence that the compromise of your login credentials was the fault of Coinbase,” the message said. “As a result, Coinbase is unable to reimburse you for your alleged losses.”
Eventually, the company sent a $200 credit, telling Ben, “Your Coinbase experience and your wait for a response to your formal complaint was not up to our standards.”
Experts say SIM swapping, where fraudsters seize control of a victim’s phone number and SIM card through their phone company is to blame for many of the Cryptocurrency thefts.
“The problem with SIM swapping and Cryptocurrency is the moment you lose access to your cell phone, professional hackers will steal all of your money in less than 30 minutes,” said David Silver, an attorney who focuses on Cryptocurrency. You can get more details here.
