The administration of the cryptocurrency exchange Livecoin, which has been operating since 2014, said that the resource suffered from a carefully planned attack, as a result of which it lost control of the servers and the backend. “Our news channels were also compromised. At the moment, we partially control the frontend, so we can place this ad, ”reads the message.
After unknown attackers gained control over the infrastructure of Livecoin, they changed the rates of a number of cryptocurrencies, bringing them to sky-high values. For example, Bitcoin exceeded $ 450,000, Ether – $ 15,000, and Ripple’s value increased from $ 0.27 to $ 17.
After changing exchange rates, mysterious attackers began to cash out funds from accounts, making huge profits. In a statement, Livecoin representatives urge users to stop depositing funds and making transactions through other interfaces, including the site API and mobile applications.
Although the administration claims that it is already working on an investigation into what happened together with law enforcement agencies, many suspected the exchange management of an exit scam, that is, in an attempt to hide with users’ money. Thus, part of the funds stolen from Livecoin ( 285 ETH ) was withdrawn to the same address where the funds were received after the recent hack of the British EXMO exchange. At the same time, EXMO representatives told RBC journalists that they tried to contact the executive director of Livecoin Svetlana Geller, but immediately after that her Telegram account was deleted.