Wallet drained after signing up for a 'new exchange bonus', can anything be done?
Hey everyone,
I feel so stupid right now. I saw this ad on Reddit for a new crypto exchange launching, promising some insane deposit bonuses and staking APYs if you signed up within the first 24 hours. They even had a fancy countdown timer and everything. Ngl, it looked pretty legit, lots of slick graphics. I thought, wow, this is a real opportunity.
So, I signed up, connected my MetaMask to transfer some ETH for the bonus – just a little, like 0.8 ETH, to dip my toes in. The site prompted me to approve a smart contract interaction directly, which I thought was odd for a deposit, but I figured hey, new tech, maybe it's some kind of direct integration thing for instant bonuses. And then... poof. My entire MetaMask wallet was drained. Not just the 0.8 ETH, but everything else in there too – some MATIC, a bit of BNB. Total low five figures. My heart just sank.
I've tried reaching out to their 'support' but no reply. The website is still up. I feel like such an idiot. Is there anything at all I can do? Like, was it a malicious smart contract? Can it be traced? I'm in Seattle, reported it to the local police but they just looked at me blank.
asked by Brian Martin· 0d ago