Brazilian YouTuber Ivan Bianco, who owns the Fraternidade Crypto channel with nearly 34,000 subscribers and specializes in blockchain games, lost a total of around $60,000 from two different cryptocurrency wallets and multiple NFTs after demonstrating the seed phrases connected to them in one of his streams.
Minutes after the incident, unknown people had withdrawn 86,600 MATIC (valued at roughly $50,800 at the time) and 3.35 ETH ($5,750) from his wallet.
After involving the police, an anonymous person contacted him on Discord and admitted to the theft and expressed remorse.
Funds in the form of 86,600 MATIC were returned, and law enforcement is tracking down the remaining small amounts taken by other persons.
Bianco refused to name the attacker and assured his subscribers that the story was true, even when it was met with disbelief.
As a warning to others, he hopes that his experience will caution others about the dangers of exposing private keys.
This incident comes on the heels of a May video by cybersecurity startup Unciphered which demonstrated how a Trezor T wallet seed phrase can be easily stolen.
