Lost your crypto access code? Be wary, there‘s a scam for that too

A niche type of fraud is lucrative enough for criminals to set up fake websites with dodgy software to harvest your data After holding them for a few years, you have decided it is time to cash in your cryptocurrency holdings. The problem is, it is so long since you set up the digital wallet which manages them on your laptop, you have forgotten the lengthy access code. Stressed at the thought of losing thousands of pounds, you search and download a program which promises to recover the 24-word “seed phrase” which gives you access to your cypto assets. Unfortunately, the program was created by criminals and, once installed, harvests your personal details and passwords, as well as taking images of the documents on your system. It may sound a niche type of fraud, but it is clearly lucrative enough for criminals to bother setting up fake websites directing people to their dodgy software. “Scammers are preying on people’s desperation to recover their cryptocurrency wallets,” says Alex Holland, of the HP Security Lab, which found evidence of the fraud. “Perhaps the victim has forgotten the seed phrase used to access their wallet. If you wanted a way of recovering that, you cou