Cold wallet doesn’t mean it is safe.
A cryptocurrency investor has reportedly lost 50 million yuan, equivalent to roughly $6.9 million USD, after unknowingly purchasing a tampered cold wallet through Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
The alarming breach was reported by 23pds, Chief Security Officer at blockchain security firm SlowMist, who revealed that the wallet’s private key had been stolen during the wallet’s initial creation, long before it reached the buyer.
Investigations found the cold wallet was tampered with prior to sale, meaning the attacker gained access by stealing the private key at the point of wallet generation.
This allowed them to seize control and drain the funds once the investor loaded assets onto it.
The stolen crypto was quickly funnelled through a mixing service called Huiwang, which obscures transaction trails and complicates efforts to trace or recover the funds.
23pds issued a strong warning to crypto investors after the incident:
“99% of the so-called ‘brand new and unopened’ or ‘special price flash sales’ cold wallets online are fake and likely tampered with.”
The security expert urged buyers to avoid purchasing wallets from unofficial sources such as social media platforms where discounted devices are frequently listed.
These counterfeit wallets often come preloaded with compromised keys, making them traps for anyone transferring assets onto them.
The rise of deceptive wallet sales on platforms like TikTok and Douyin is fueling a surge in crypto scams.
Sellers advertise wallets at prices slightly below the asset value they supposedly hold, luring in unsuspecting investors looking for deals.
These offers are often bait designed to steal funds the moment they are deposited.
Such scams exploit the platform’s popularity and the enthusiasm of new investors seeking easy gains in the volatile crypto market.
Source: Freepik
Scammers frequently use fake profiles and carefully crafted videos to convince viewers their schemes are legitimate.
By showcasing supposed investor testimonials and success stories, they create a false sense of security and prompt victims to follow links to fraudulent websites or messaging apps.
Once funds are sent, the scammers vanish, leaving investors with heavy losses.
The loss has prompted a wave of concern across the crypto community, with many calling for greater investor education around wallet safety.
Security experts are warning that the growing demand for cold storage has created a thriving black market of fake hardware, specifically designed to extract digital assets from victims.
While platforms like Douyin have policies in place to curb scams, crypto-related fraud continues to exploit gaps in platform moderation, especially in grey-market product sales.
The stolen $6.9 million case is one of the largest known examples of a wallet scam linked to social media in 2025 so far.
The SlowMist team continues to investigate the transaction trail, but given the involvement of Huiwang, chances of recovering the stolen funds remain slim.
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