Celsius Network Creditors Receive Phishing Emails Amid Bankruptcy Proceedings Reach Final Stages

Some social media reports have confirmed that scammers are on the rampage again and this time around creditors of defunct crypto hedge fund Celsius Network are the victims of a new wave of phishing attacks. 

These scammers are trying to impersonate Stretto, the bankruptcy service platform being utilized by the crypto lender and its creditors to steal funds from cryptocurrency wallets.

Impersonation of Celsius’ Bankruptcy Claim Agent 

On Monday, one user claimed to have received three phishing emails posing as Celsius Network. Others said that they received fake emails with suspicious links trying to impersonate the claim agent in Celsuis’ bankruptcy case. A close look at the link which leads to the date website, shows that it dropped an ‘s’ from the real URL. 

This link pops up to direct a user to connect a wallet prompt which, once connected, gives the scammer easy access to drain the wallet of its content.

Celsius Network’s Bankruptcy 

Following the bear market of last year and a decision to suspend withdrawal on its trading platform, Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York.  The exchange’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alex Mashinsky, who has now resigned, felt that filing for bankruptcy protection was the best decision for the Celsius community and company. 

The court filing at that time showed that the cryptocurrency exchange had as many as 100,000 creditors. These customers became agitated about the turn of events and began filing against the firm with the hope of recovering a reasonable portion of their assets.

Phishing Attacks Likely To Increase 

Celsius finally received authorization in mid-August 2023 to send out ballots to its customers for their vote in a proposed settlement plan.

The final date for voting was fixed for September 18th, the report is stipulated for September 20th, and a hearing for September 29th, per a statement from Simon Dixon, the CEO and Co-founder of BnkToTheFuture

This attack comes around the same time when Celsius Network’s bankruptcy proceedings are nearing the final stages.

One analyst and business manager identified as Keith on the X app believes that there will be more of these attacks in the coming days citing the fact that creditors would be very eager to make any last-minute changes or confirm any alleged distribution at this time. He therefore advises creditors to take caution and double-check links before clicking.