An anonymous crypto investor sued Coinbase on Monday over funds linked to a 2024 DAI phishing theft.
Summary
- Crypto whale claims Coinbase froze DAI tied to phishing theft but refused to return funds.
- Plaintiff says Inferno Drainer attack stole about $55 million in DAI after fake login page.
- Case could test how exchanges handle frozen crypto when victims provide ownership proof after thefts.
The plaintiff claims the exchange froze traceable assets but refused to return them without a court order.
The lawsuit names Coinbase and an unknown alleged thief. The plaintiff, identified as “D.B.,” claims he lost about $55 million in DAI after logging into a fake page that gave an attacker access to his wallet.
Plaintiff claims stolen DAI reached Coinbase
The complaint says the attack took place on Aug. 20, 2024. The alleged thief used Inferno Drainer, a phishing tool linked to wallet-draining attacks, to move DAI from the plaintiff’s wallet.
The filing says blockchain security firm Zero Shadow later traced part of the stolen funds to a Coinbase retail account. Coinbase froze the assets after receiving notice, but the exchange allegedly declined to release them without a court order.
D.B.’s lawyers said Coinbase acted properly when it first froze the funds. However, they claimed its position later became “unreasonable” after the plaintiff gave sworn proof of ownership.
The plaintiff is asking the court to order Coinbase to return the traceable stolen assets. The amount held in the Coinbase account was not disclosed in the public filing.
Case mirrors earlier $55M DAI theft
The redacted case closely matches a major DAI phishing theft reported in August 2024. At that time, a whale address lost $55.47 million in DAI after signing a fraudulent transaction, according to a related report on the incident.
The new lawsuit appears tied to the same 2024 attack. Its report said the victim hired on-chain investigators and that the stolen funds were later linked to a Coinbase account.
The alleged attack involved a fake DeFi Saver login page. The victim claims he failed to notice that the site ended in “.app” instead of the correct domain.
The attacker then moved the funds through other wallets and laundering tools. The lawsuit now places the recovery fight before a federal court rather than leaving it to private talks with the exchange.
Fraud recovery questions move to court
The case centers on a common issue in crypto theft recoveries. Exchanges may freeze suspicious funds when victims or investigators raise alerts, but they often require legal orders before releasing assets.
That process can protect exchanges from returning funds to the wrong party. It can also delay recovery for victims who claim clear ownership of traceable assets.
The broader fraud backdrop remains serious. A recent crypto scam report noted that the FBI’s 2024 IC3 data recorded $16.6 billion in total scam losses, with crypto investment fraud making up $5.8 billion.
Another related update noted that U.S. Treasury officials flagged mixers, DeFi tools, and cross-chain systems as channels that criminals can use to move stolen crypto.
Coinbase had not issued a public response in the reports reviewed at the time of writing. The court will now weigh whether D.B. has shown enough proof to recover the frozen DAI.
