Coinbase user may have lost 400 BTC to scammers – investigator

Users of crypto exchanges continue to fall victim to scams. Another potential fraud case has emerged, with a user of a major crypto exchange potentially losing tens of millions to scammers.

ZachXBT, a well-known blockchain sleuth, is once again pointing fingers at Coinbase, saying that he suspects a client of this major crypto exchange was scammed out of 400 BTC ($33.5 million) last week.

He also shared the BTC address supposedly related to the theft. At the time of writing, this address's balance is zero, with the last transactions registered on March 27th.

ZachXBT didn't provide any other details about the incident, only adding that there were other possible thefts.

"After uncovering this theft, I noticed multiple other suspected thefts from Coinbase users in the past two weeks, bringing the total stolen this month to $46M+. Funds from each theft were bridged from bitcoin to ethereum via Thorchain/Chainflip and swapped for DAI," he said, referring to decentralized exchanges Thorchain and Chainflip. DAI is the most popular decentralized stablecoin.

According to the investigator, one Coinbase user allegedly lost 60.16 BTC on March 26th, another lost 46.15 BTC on March 25th, while a third possible victim lost 20 BTC on March 16th, bringing the total loss to more than 526 BTC ($44 million).

"Coinbase has not flagged any of the theft addresses from these victims in compliance tools," ZachXBT said.

Coinbase has not issued an official statement or an update on the matter.

As reported by Cybernews.com in February, the same investigator, in collaboration with another investigator, tanuki42, claimed that Coinbase users are losing more than $300 million to social engineering scams per year, with at least $65 million stolen in December 2024 and January 2025 alone. However, the actual numbers might be much higher, according to the investigators.