While a phishing campaign is spreading through email, MetaMask has alerted its users about this scam that asks to perform a KYC verification. The objective here is to steal investors’ private keys.
Fraudulent emails call for KYC verification on MetaMask
The Cryptocurrency Wallet Twitter Account MetaMask alerted its users to a phishing campaign rampant in recent days, calling for a Know Your Customer (KYC) verification to continue using the application:
⚠️MetaMask does not collect KYC info and will never email you about your account!
Do not enter your Secret Recovery Phrase on a website EVER.
If you got an email today from MetaMask or Namecheap or anyone else like this, ignore it & do not click its links!https://t.co/EP0HGZFOfo pic.twitter.com/4CDtne24OK— MetaMask 🦊💙 (@MetaMask) February 13, 2023
Such emails are obviously scams, including the only objective is to steal investors’ private keys in order to steal their funds. Here, the KYC is only a motive, because the future victim will have to enter his seed phrase necessary for the configuration of his MetaMask wallet, which will allow hackers to take control of the addresses attached to it.
As the example below shows, such emails will often be constructed to give a sense of urgency. Thus, with a dose of inattention or credulity, the victim lets himself be trapped without taking the time to think about the situation rationally: 
Example of a fraudulent email pretending to be MetaMask
It is important to point out that it is in no way necessary to perform a KYC verification to use MetaMask. In effect, such an imperative would cause a stir in the ecosystemand it goes without saying that if it happens one day, we will relay it as soon as possible.
👉 To go further – Find our guide on best practices to limit the risk of hack
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The source of this phishing campaign
The source of this phishing campaign is foreign to MetaMask, which is not the victim of any flaw. It is actually look at Namecheapone of the third parties that this company works with is behind this campaign:
“We have evidence that the upstream system we use for sending emails is involved in sending unsolicited emails to our customers. Therefore, you might have received some unauthorized emails. »
Namecheap is a domain name provider (DNS) and therefore includes customers from the cryptocurrency ecosystem. It is therefore likely that this is the way hackers have harvested a database of crypto investors to carry out their attack.
However, this is not the first time that Namecheap has been involved in a failure that could lead to the loss of cryptocurrencies. In the summer of 2022, a DNS attack affected several decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, attempting to redirect user funds to fraudulent smart contracts.
If you think you’ve been the victim of such a fraud by entering your recovery phrase in the wrong place, the wisest course of action would be to migrate your funds to a wallet created with a different private key before it’s too late, and stop using the address concerned.
👉 Read also – North Korea stole more than $1 billion in cryptocurrencies in 2022
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Source: Namecheap
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I timidly discovered the world of blockchain at the end of 2018 during my quest for financial freedom. Initially invested moderately, it was only two years later that I took the gamble of betting everything on the movement that was taking shape then. I then dedicate 2021 to training myself better to acquire more knowledge and seriousness. As I often like to say: I still have a billion things to learn. And what I do know, I want to share with you.
Vincent Mayor
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