Scammer Loses $4.8M in Ledger Supply Chain Attack as Asia Tightens Crypto Rules

Ledger suspended its reseller network across South East Asia after thieves took over $103.4 million from 530 addresses using tampered devices slipped into the supply chain. Chainalysis says one victim was a scammer who lost 60 Bitcoin, about $4.8 million, from three new Ledgers carrying spyware that captures seed phrases.

All three wallets were drained into a single address. The victim had run a task scam that paid people to fake sales and reviews. Ledger says confirmed thefts are limited to Asia, though MediaMarkt paused sales in Europe. Trezor will close some distant resellers from Jan. 1, with no tampered Trezors reported.

Ledger Atom Launches Amid the Scandal

Ledger also unveiled Atom, an $849 wallet that runs Android apps separately from sensitive wallet functions and claims to detect tampering even when powered off.