Co-founder of crypto start-up 'Nest Wallet' loses $125K to scam

San Francisco : The co-founder of Nest Wallet -- Bill Lou, was scammed out of $125,000 stEth (a cryptocurrency token) while attempting to claim the $LFG airdrop.

The domain Lou had gone to, believing it was a cryptocurrency airdrop website, was actually set up to phish unsuspecting users after he lost his money.

"I'm devastated guys. I just got scammed out of $125k of stEth while trying to claim the $LFG airdrop," Lou wrote on X.

"I can't believe this is happening, I've always been so careful. I saw article guide to the airdrop and follow the link to sign a message. I didn't even question it," he added.

A cryptocurrency "airdrop" is a marketing strategy in which a company distributes small amounts of coins or tokens to wallet addresses in exchange for minor favours from community members, such as token recipients giving shoutouts to the company on social media.

Lou claims he was using a Metamask wallet instead of his own Nest Wallet service because he had a "test version installed."

According to its website, Metamask is "a safe and simple way to access blockchain applications." Lou, on the other hand, claims that his Nest Wallet "would have literally caught it."

According to Lou, he visited an unauthorised website impersonating lessfeesandgas.org.

In Lou’s ongoing personal investigation with Hackers Residue, “the hacker has scammed a total of 66 Eth,” including his 52 and another 14 Eth, equating to approximately $31K from other people.

“It does not seem like a one person job,” Lou said in a recent post. “Currently, the stolen funds have all been moved to this wallet,” he added.