Phishing Attempt on Ripple’s CTO
David Schwartz, the Chief Technology Officer of Ripple, took to social media platform X to reveal a comical phishing attempt directed at him. The email fraudulently claimed to be from Jed McCaleb, one of Ripple’s co-founders who transitioned to create Stellar after leaving Ripple in 2014.
“Seriously?!”
Schwartz shared a screenshot of the scam email alongside this caption. The message requested a ransom of $1 million in USDT, claiming to use the Ethereum blockchain for the transaction. Notably, the Ethereum wallet address listed in the email appeared to have no previous transactions, indicating it was newly generated for the sole purpose of this scam.
About Jed McCaleb
Jed McCaleb, known for his wealth amassed through the sale of billions of XRP over the years, is highly unlikely to issue such a desperate request for funds. As a significant early stakeholder in Ripple, he was allocated a substantial amount of XRP during the company’s inception. Between 2014 and 2022, McCaleb systematically liquidated nearly all of his 9 billion XRP, reportedly generating between $3 to $3.5 billion from these transactions. Current estimates from outlets like Forbes place his net worth at around $2.9 billion.
Schwartz’s Experience with Phishing Scams
Schwartz’s prominence in the XRP and Ripple world has made him a frequent target for various phishing schemes. This is not the first instance he has shared concerning such scams; in August, he humorously exposed a poorly written phishing email that pretended to come from X/Twitter support, while also sharing another fraudulent message posing as fake Coinbase support requesting account verification in January. Additionally, earlier this year he disclosed his close call with a more sophisticated Apple ID phishing scheme.
Ripple’s Response to Cyber Threats
In light of these ongoing cyber threats, Ripple has recently initiated a holiday campaign aimed at raising awareness about scams and educating the community on how to identify and avoid them.
