Consumer complaint received 2021-12-17
Company: Payward Ventures Inc. dba Kraken
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Virtual currency
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
My Kraken.com account XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX was compromised on the XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX. 

I received an email from kraken.com ( Payward Inc. ) after failing to login to my account with my password and two factor authentication. 

I received an email from Kraken.com asking me to verify a new device. 

KRAKEN.COM DISABLED MY TWO FACTOR AUTHENTICATION. 

When I logged in after a second attempt, my account was being emptied right in front of my eyes. I could see my cryptocurrency assets being un-staked. I logged out of my account to try and reset account access. This did not work! when I logged back in the assets were being withdrawn. 

Kraken.com was informed but did nothing to help. It took several hours SOMETIMES DAYS for them to reply and every communication with Kraken.com was with a different named employee. They always just gave the first name. This didn't give me much confidence that I was dealing with anyone official. 

I strongly believe that someone at kraken.com is responsible for emptying my account. and making it look like an outside attack. 

I had activated the Global security lock which took 24 hours to disable. 

Once i was able to access my account, it was empty except for a just a XXXX coins ( less than XXXX dollars ) and my XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX which were locked for one year. 

Kraken.com didn't do anything to help. I have the BTC address where the assets were sent to. This address was forwarded to the security team at Kraken.com who would not confirm that they tried to block the account or flag it with other exchanges. 

Kraken.com asked me to review and update security on my account and email which was already compromised by Kraken.com themselves. 

Kraken.com negligently disabled my two factor authentication without my consent after sending me an email requesting approval for a new device. 

Kraken.com allowed all my assets to be un-staked in seconds and then withdrawn in just a few minutes without my consent. 

I had two factor authentication enabled for staking and also for withdrawals. Kraken.com allowed the un-staking of all my assets and withdrawal of all my funds in just a few minutes. 

With all other exchanges this is not possible. 
Any WITHDRAWALS ARE NOT PERMITTED UNTIL AFTER 24 HOURS if there have been ANY changes to account security. 

Kraken.com are advertising themselves as the most secure cryptocurrency exchange yet they disabled my security and allowed changes to other layers of my account security without my consent and then allowed withdrawal of tens of thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrency assets within minutes - THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE ON ANY SECURE CRYPTOCURRECY EXCHANGE. 

Kraken.com not only negligently disabled security on my account but allowed a third into my account at the same time as I was logged in. 

Not only was a third party allowed access to my account at the same time as me but they were allowed to make changes to several steps of my account security, add a new withdrawal address and withdraw all my funds all in just a few minutes. 

In any safe and secure cryptocurrency exchange the actions performed on my account on the XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX would have resulted in a 24 hour delay for any withdrawals. 

The un-staking process itself has taken me several minutes in the past for each asset. The only explanation for someone being able to un-stake ALL of my assets in seconds is if someone at kraken.com were doing this. 

Kraken.com have allowed my digital property to be un-staked and withdrawn without my consent almost instantaneously after severe breach of security to their system which I can only explain as a fraudulent act on behalf of someone at Kraken.com. 

What they have allowed is not only unacceptable but ridiculous- we are not talking about a few hundred dollars but almost XXXX dollars being allowed to be withdrawn to a completely new UNKNOWN ADDRESS after Kraken.com themselves disabled my two factor authentication for logging into my account and then immediately allowing changes to other security layers, then allowing un-staking and withdrawing all my funds in just minutes by a third party that was allowed access to my account at the same time as me. 

THIS COULD ONLY HAVE BEEN DONE BY SOMEONE WORKING AT KRAKEN.COM THAT HAS FULL ACCESS TO ALL THE SECURITY LEVELS. 

I have contacted XXXX who replied after two weeks and have accused me of negligence saying that I " most likely '' entered my details into a phishing site. They also went ono say that the withdrawals were approved from my email. 

I have NEVER entered my Kraken.com details into any site other that the official Kraken.com site. 

I have always used a secure internet connection. 

My email ; address has had an account key enabled since XXXX and can only be accessed after approval from my mobile device. 

I wrote back to XXXX explaining this but they have not replied. 

I have filed complaints with IC3 ( FBI ), local cyber crime police and the SEC. 



List of digital assets stolen from my account on the XXXX of XX/XX/XXXX : Un-staked converted to BTC and withdrawn : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Converted to BTC and withdrawn XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I also had two 2x leveraged positions open ( I was paying around XXXX dollars a day for these ) with XXXX and XXXX. These were closed and withdrawn in one of seven transactions after they were converted from USD to BTC. 

The total value of cryptocurrency assets after they were converted to BTC and withdrawn in seven separate transactions is XXXX XXXX which was around XXXX dollars at that time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation