Fraudsters Target Forgotten Bitcoin Wallets with Phony Legal Threats—Is Your Crypto at Risk?

Cybercriminals are preying on inactive Bitcoin wallets with a fresh wave of deceptive legal notices—because nothing screams 'legitimate' like unsolicited threats over digital assets.

How the scam works: Fraudsters send official-looking warnings claiming dormant wallets face seizure or legal action unless owners 'verify' their holdings—a classic ploy to steal private keys.

Why now? With over $10B in Bitcoin lost or forgotten (per Chainalysis), scents see low-hanging fruit. Bonus jab: Wall Street still can't decide if crypto is 'dead' or their next revenue stream—meanwhile, grifters innovate faster than compliance departments.

Protect yourself: Never share seed phrases, ignore 'urgent' wallet notices, and remember—the only free lunch in finance is a scam sandwich.

Fake legal claims

BitMEX warned that the website shows no credible LINK to the real Salomon Brothers or its former leadership. While the site displays a list of real individuals who once worked at the firm, none appear to be associated with this new and likely fraudulent entity.

The platform described the approach as reminiscent of an earlier scam associated with controversial figures like Calvin Ayre, who previously funded legal action involving the same Bitcoin address.

BitMEX Research stated:

“The links between this company and this website are fake. There is a page with an “advisory board” that contains real people who worked at Salomon Brothers in the 1980s, however, these people seem to have no link to this new spurious entity.”

Community members have also weighed in, noting that legitimate wallet owners could simply MOVE a small amount of BTC to prove activity rather than transferring the full balance.

This has also led many to suspect the campaign is part of a broader social engineering scam effort designed to gather sensitive information under a legal pretext.

BitMEX emphasized that users should not interact with the contact FORM or provide personal details.

The emergence of these scams illustrates the growing complexity of crypto-related fraud. In the first half of 2025 alone, hackers stole over $2.1 billion across 75 separate incidents, a 10% rise compared to the same period in 2024.