Telcoin Hacked for $1.2M After Implementing Polygon

After an error linked to Polygon wallet implementation resulted in user balances on Telcoin mobile app plummeting, the price of the TEL token slid by at least 40%. Peckshield security firm flagged the loss as an exploit, CoinDesk reported.

Only passive users lost money

The assailant drained more than $1.2 million from affected accounts, messages on Telcoin’s community Discord channel revealed. According to Telcoin, only users who had “never initiated transactions” from the app lost money.

Telcoin develops trading and remittance instruments and other financial apps. Mobile users run Telcoin on the Polygon blockchain. Telcoin froze its app early Tuesday according to its developers. Subsequently, they posted on X that the problem had been related to how the app interacted with the Polygon blockchain, assuring users there were no leaks of private keys or sensitive data.

Telcoin posted on X:

We’ve identified the root cause, which was not an issue with the Telcoin Wallet code itself, but with the proxy implementation of the wallet on Polygon – primarily impacting wallets that have never initiated transactions. We have deployed a fix to stop further exploitation.

Telcoin shared plans to restore the full wallet balances before reactivating the app.

MS Wallet Drainer siphoned $58M+ in crypto

In related news, the crypto malware tool MS Wallet Drainer siphoned more than $58 million in crypto since March, Bitcoin.com reported. The tool uses fake X ads and Google search phishing links to distribute malware. More than 60,000 users have been affected as of December 21.

MS Wallet Drainer attacks cryptocurrency wallets on Ethereum, Binance, and other blockchains and drains them of all assets available, including NFTs.

It distributes malware using Google search results for popular cryptocurrency and DeFi platforms like Lido, Radiant, Zapper, Stargate, and DeFiLlama.