We interrupt your usual programming because I’m depressed. It’s not only due to the explicit lack of artistry in the top NFT sales of the past week seeming to openly mock my profession. (Although, yeah, it’s very much that.) But it’s also because the worst NFT discovery of my week had nothing to do with art.
After losing half an ETH to seed phrase mismanagement, I fell victim to a scam on Twitter that drained my NFT account of a quarter more.
Our story begins when I sent funds to an account I did not have recorded access to, which locked me out. Panicking, and having already spoken to the real MetaMask customer service, I gave my wallet information to a scammer impersonating the head of support operations. N00b moves all around, I know, which is why we’re trying to help you avoid doing the same.
As we said above, personal responsibility in management of crypto wallets — the sole point of failure on the blockchain — is the biggest barrier to consumer adoption. Having worked with security and database technologies for years now, most recently at Google, I’d say I’m no slouch when it comes to staying safe online. I took steps to prepare for this exact scenario, yet even I ended up walking right into it.
From my perspective Web 3.0 is primarily a backend technology, or should be, if it ever wants mainstream adoption. The De-Everything community largely thinks they can solve any problem, but historically, human stupidity is unsolvable. Thus, custodial-based wallets and verified identity accounts are the wave of the future.
This technology is new. We’re still inventing ways to navigate it live. And, currently, there’s no better way to make it through than learning from other’s mistakes. Still, had some rando from my Twitter feed, Chris Cantino, tweeted this thread a day earlier, I’d be complaining about lightly-edited nightmare fuel right now instead. Check it out for a solid primer on avoiding crypto scams — I fell victim to #8.
