On-chain analyst Specter said the source of funds tied to a person who claimed to be a victim of a Tornado Cash phishing site is questionable. The individual had previously said that a Coldcard hardware wallet was compromised, prompting a move from Bitcoin to Ethereum, and that more than 1,000 ETH was later lost through a fake Tornado Cash interface. Specter said on-chain data shows the 73 BTC the user described as stolen, worth about $4.6 million, had actually been withdrawn from the Whirlpool mixer two weeks earlier. Part of those funds was then bridged to Ethereum before being deposited through the phishing site and stolen. Specter also said the same identity had previously appeared in Telegram groups related to private-key cracking and brute-force activity. Based on those details, the analyst said the supposed victim may itself be a threat actor, and the funds in question may have been taken from other attackers.
On-chain analyst Specter said the source of funds tied to a person who claimed to be a victim of a Tornado Cash phishing site appears suspicious.
The person had previously said a Coldcard hardware wallet was hacked, leading them to move funds from Bitcoin to Ethereum, before losing more than 1,000 ETH through a fake Tornado Cash interface.
Funds were traced back to Whirlpool
According to Specter, on-chain data shows the 73 BTC the user described as stolen, worth about $4.6 million, had in fact been withdrawn from the Whirlpool mixer two weeks earlier. Part of the funds was then bridged to Ethereum, and only afterward deposited through a spoofed Tornado Cash phishing interface and stolen.
Prior activity raised more questions
Specter said it is unclear why the user would use two mixers in sequence to handle funds whose origin is already in doubt. The same identity had also appeared earlier in Telegram groups related to private-key cracking and brute-force activity.
Based on those details, Specter said the supposed victim may itself be a threat actor, and the funds may have been stolen from other attackers.
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