Crypto Founders Beware: Zoom/Telegram Hacks Get Sneakier! 😱

Oh dear! Sandeep Nailwal, the brilliant founder of Polygon, had a rather alarming tale to tell. It seems that one of his contacts got hacked in the most devious of ways—by a sneaky blend of social engineering and deepfake trickery on Zoom. The attackers didn’t just stop there; they had the audacity to target others through Telegram too, all in an effort to install a nasty little component that would let them crawl around their victims’ computers like mischievous mice! 🐭

The Zoom/Telegram Hacker Scheme: Sandeep’s ‘Fun’ Encounter

Hold onto your hats, folks, because the world of cryptocurrency and venture capitalism has just become a playground for tech-savvy hackers with more tricks up their sleeves than a magician at a kids’ party. Polygon’s own Sandeep Nailwal bravely sounded the alarm on a recent attack involving the head of Polygon Ventures. These cyber miscreants had clearly been doing their homework, and boy, they were good at it.

Somehow, and we’re still not entirely sure how (because magic, maybe?), the attackers took over the Telegram account of the Polygon Ventures head. They then proceeded to call up other founders, pretending to be the big cheese himself. All set up through the perfectly polished persona of—wait for it—Zoom calls. Oh yes, they didn’t just settle for text. These hackers wanted face-to-face action.

But here’s where it gets even juicier. The Zoom calls were graced with the digital likeness of Sandeep, and there was even a woman who looked like another member of the Polygon team. What could go wrong, right? 😏 Well, turns out, everything.

Zoom might’ve been the hacker’s playground, but the sound was the villain of the hour. The calls kept having issues (very convenient, no?), so the attackers—being ever so considerate—suggested attendees install an “update” to resolve the technical problems. Little did they know, this update wasn’t just about sound. Oh no! It was a Trojan horse carrying malware that would sneak into the founders’ computers faster than a rat at a cheese festival. 🧀

And then there’s Kaavya Prasad, co-founder of Rabble, who nearly fell for it. She said:

“The avatars moved. Looked real. I wish I had taken a screenshot of the call. But I knew this wasn’t real. Sandeep doesn’t just drop into random Zooms like this.”

Ah, a wise one! Kaavya, you’re a star. 🌟 Sandeep wasn’t just lurking around on random Zoom calls like some errant ghost. But for those who didn’t have her sharp intuition, the dangers were very real.

Sandeep himself called these attacks “horrifying,” a sentiment we can all agree with, especially when the attackers tried to trick him into confirming whether he was part of the Zoom meeting and wanted to install that oh-so-helpful update script. “These attacks are getting more sophisticated by the day!” he warned. His advice? Keep a separate laptop for signing transactions from your crypto wallets, and for goodness’ sake, don’t do anything else on it! Wise words from the man himself. 🧠

And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, in April, Kenny Li, co-founder of Manta Network, raised concerns over a similar incident. He had a hunch that Lazarus, the North Korean hacking group (yes, they’re real), might be behind these sinister schemes. Oh joy. 😒

2025-05-15 11:09

The Zoom/Telegram Hacker Scheme: Sandeep’s ‘Fun’ Encounter

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