Kraken User Allegedly Drained in Suspected Social Engineering Heist
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported that an unknown Kraken person misplaced $18.2 million in a suspected social engineering rip-off, with stolen funds already transferring throughout chains.
The risk actor started bridging 878 ETH, price roughly $1.8 million, from Ethereum (ETH) to Bitcoin (BTC) by way of THORChain utilizing a SafePal pockets. ZachXBT shared the small print on his Telegram channel.
Another Social Engineering Victim Funneled Through THORChain
The theft deal with tied to the incident is 0xC55149BbD560435a9FbEabFdcF9711cf928acA21 on Ethereum, with a corresponding BTC deal with of 1D8f8956EEFLXN28AHfioEx4ywVbxCz8KN.
On-chain information from the THOR InfoBot confirmed the streaming swap was initiated roughly 45 minutes earlier than the alert went public, including credence to ZachXBT’s claim.
THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain liquidity protocol, doesn’t require KYC verification. That function has made it a repeated tool for laundering stolen funds.
In January 2026, an attacker used the identical protocol to maneuver parts of $282 million in stolen BTC and Litecoin (LTC) after tricking a {hardware} pockets person into revealing their seed phrase.
In that case, 818 BTC price $78 million was swapped into ETH, XRP, and LTC by way of THORChain.
The blockchain investigator additionally tracked a $330 million theft in 2025 and a $91 million loss in August of that yr, each involving social engineering and cross-chain fund motion.
The 878 ETH seen on-chain could signify just one tranche of the $18.2 million whole being moved. Attackers in prior instances steadily break up stolen belongings throughout a number of transactions and chains concurrently.
Neither Kraken nor SafePal has publicly commented on the incident on the time of writing.
The investigation stays in its early phases as on-chain trackers monitor additional fund actions from the flagged addresses.
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