Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has issued a vital warning to the Web3 neighborhood after scammers tried to impersonate him utilizing deepfake know-how in a complicated fraud scheme.
In a post shared on social media, Nailwal described a disturbing new rip-off vector that entails pretend Zoom conferences the place deepfakes of himself and different Polygon Ventures staff members are used to trick startup founders into putting in malicious software program.
The rip-off allegedly started after hackers gained entry to the Telegram account of Shreyansh Singh, head of investments at Polygon Ventures. Utilizing that compromised account, the attackers contacted startup founders—significantly these beforehand in contact with Polygon—beneath the pretense of arranging funding discussions.
As soon as a name is scheduled, the victims are requested to affix a pretend Zoom assembly via a desktop hyperlink showing to originate from Polygon. The decision incorporates a video feed exhibiting deepfakes of Nailwal, Singh, and a lady impersonating one other staff member.
With audio disabled, the attackers declare there’s a technical difficulty and instruct the sufferer to put in an SDK—a malicious script that, if put in, compromises the system.
Nailwal emphasised that nobody ought to ever set up information or software program on the request of one other celebration throughout an unsolicited name. He additional suggested retaining a separate machine strictly for crypto-related actions resembling pockets transactions to attenuate publicity to such threats.
“These assaults maintain getting increasingly more refined,” Nailwal warned. “Please be secure on the market.”
The incident highlights the rising use of AI-driven deepfake know-how in phishing and social engineering scams throughout the crypto house—particularly focusing on founders and early-stage tasks.
Kosta Gushterov
Reporter at Coindoo
Kosta has been an element of the staff since 2021 and has solidified his place with a thirst for information, unbelievable dedication to his work and a “detective-like” mindset. He not solely covers a variety of trending subjects, he additionally creates opinions, PR articles and academic content material. His work has additionally been referenced by different information shops.
