Consumer complaint received 2022-04-08
Company: Coinbase, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
Hi, I didn't receive a previous request for information with a case number until yesterday. I have provided a lot of information already. Some guy stole almost {$14000.00} worth of my Crypto last Monday XX/XX/XXXX after posing as a member of another platform. I don't know how he did it. However, he had a lot of information about my account and was able to generate codes from the other platform while pretending to be helping me in solving a login problem. The call came in at XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and because I had trouble loggin in earlier in the day, I assumed the person was genuine. He even knew my password. I believe it to be an inside job. 

I was suspicious after hanging up on the guy and went to look at my crypto accounts. Only my Coinbase account had been hacked. The person that called gave me probably a fake name and fake ID numbers. He had an XXXX accent but said his name was XXXX XXXX and that his badge number was either XXXX or XXXX. The number he called from was XXXX XXXX. I called him the next day and he said he was a COINBASE REP. However, when I started to complain about him having stolen my Crypto, he hung up and refused to pick up when I called back a few times the next couple of days. The phone went straight to voicemail without identifying the person behind the phone number. 

I am a newbie at Crypto investment and relied on Coinbase advertisement as the most trusted Crypto website to put this ton of money on it, almost {$20000.00}. The thief managed to transfer my assets out of my account to the tune of almost {$14000.00}. I caught on right away and called Conbase support right after I hung up on the guy but the harm had been done. 

How can COINBASE not have a security feature automatically alerted every time someone is transferring Crypto out of any account? There should be a request for confirmation with codes generated and provided EVERY SINGLE TIME someone is transferring funds from one account to another as XXXX and a couple of other platforms do. It should be a REQUIREMENT to allow platform users to veto any unauthorized transfer of any crypto out of anyone 's account. It boggles the mind to think that even with previous COINBASE HACKS and countless other platform users being hacked that this is not a requirement. 

My call to COINBASE was immediate, right after the theft incident. Not to have a 24 hour delay of any crypto transfer to another account is unthinkable with so many thieves outthere stealing people 's assets. The recipient should have a crypto destination that allows for identity verification. Your security system is defective. You want to put the responsibility solely on the victim for the hacking to absolve yourself of any responsibility but this is not right. Banks reverse wrong transactions and investigate to catch the thief who has probably done this before and will do so again. For COINBASE to say, just alert the authorities and we'll cooperate is passing the buck. You should have a great number of hacking specialists going after all these people trying to steal people 's assets. COINBASE makes so much money from the transactions generated by the activity on their platform that it should surely be able to spend some of that money to provide better security measures for any CRYPTO being transferred out of any account. 

The pattern of trades should have been suspicious enough to generate a report or some kind of an alert system. For any crypto holder to be swapping all the crypto in their account for ETHEREUM should have been a red flag and a call should have been placed OR A HOLD SHOULD HAVE BEEN PLACED UNTIL VERIFICATION HAD BEEN DONE. I had multiple cryptos on the platform because I like to spread my risks around to keep the account solvent. Banks put a hold on any suspicious transaction EVEN IF IT INCOVENIENCES THE CLIENT BECAUSE ITS PRIORITY IS TO SECURE THE CLIENT 'S ASSETS AND MAKE SURE THAT UNAUTHORIZED INDIVIDUALS DON'T PREY ON UNSUSPECTING CLIENTS. 

I am XXXX XXXX XXXX and definitely not an expert at using the computer system to carry out financial dealings. So, I have to rely on the advertisement of businesses before deciding where to deposit my assets. I retired from teaching and was just trying to make a few bucks to supplement my meager retirement income. How am I going to recover from this? I AM ASKING COINBASE TO REACH ITS DEEP POCKETS, USE ITS INSURANCE THAT IT BOASTS OF AND DO RIGHT BY ME BY REIMBURSING ME THE DOLLAR AMOUNT THAT WAS STOLEN. I have crypto on 2 more platforms which weren't hacked. Am I to assume they have a better security system than Coinbase or that they are more willing than COINBASE to do right by their clients when their hard-earned money is stolen from their platform? Please, Please, Please. DO RIGHT BY ME AND REIMBURSE THE FUNDS THAT WERE STOLEN TODAY OR TOMORROW. 

If you need any additional information, please feel free to contact me.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation