Crypto exchange Crypto.com suspends deposits and withdrawals in response to security breach

A major hack has seen customers at one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges lose thousands of dollars.

One of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges has been forced to suspend all deposits and withdrawals after a major security breach.

Late on Monday, Crypto.com received concerning reports from a “small” pool of customers that they had spotted unauthorised activity in their accounts.

Money was leaving their accounts despite them never issuing a directive for it to do so.

Users took to social media, with one man saying he could see a withdrawal had taken place in his crypto wallet, with 4.28 Ethereum tokens disappearing from his account. He described it as them being “stolen out of nowhere”.

This was despite him having the 2-factor authentication feature turned on.

Based on today’s current rates for Ethereum, that’s the equivalent of him having $14,000 stolen.

Crypto.com issued a statement assuring customers that their funds were safe, but it encouraged users to log out and back in out of an “abundance of caution”.

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Earlier today a small number of users experienced unauthorized activity in their accounts. All funds are safe.

In an abundance of caution, security on all accounts is being enhanced, requiring users to:

-Sign back into their App & Exchange accounts
-Reset their 2FA

— Crypto.com (@cryptocom) January 17, 2022

Six hours later, Crypto.com issued another statement on social media saying the problem had been fixed.

“Update: Withdrawal services have been restored. All funds are safe. It will take time to clear the backlogs. We appreciate your patience,” the company wrote.

However, some customers claimed that this was far from a solution.

“What about the withdrawals from accounts that were not authorised? There are coins missing in my account!” one person replied.

Another frustrated customer added: “I lost 1.2 btc [Bitcoin]. They took .26btc withdrawals four times.”

A third person commented: “Still can’t access my account. No response still from support team and it’s been 4 hours. I’ll be moving to FTX [another crypto exchange].”

I messaged yah guys hours ago about my account having 4.28ETH stolen out of nowhere and I’m also wondering how they got passed the 2FA?

— BEN BALLERâ„¢ (@BENBALLER) January 17, 2022

As of 9am AEDT, Ben Baller - the gentleman who said his funds were “stolen out of nowhere - said they had been restored.

Crypto.com started in 2015 and is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world.

It has an estimated 10 million US customers and also has some Australian and New Zealand users after launching here late last year.

News.com.au has contacted Crypto.com for comment.