Ripple's Chief Technology Officer laughably reveals a poorly crafted phishing attempt
Headline: Ripple CTO David Schwartz Warns Against Phishing Emails After Fake Login Alert
In a recent development, David Schwartz, the Chief Technology Officer at Ripple, has shared a cautionary tale about a phishing email he received. The email claimed unauthorized access to his social media account, but Schwartz quickly identified it as a scam.
To identify and avoid phishing emails, follow these key steps:
- Check the sender’s email address carefully. Phishing emails often come from addresses that look official but have subtle differences or misspellings compared to legitimate ones.
- Look for poor grammar and spelling mistakes. Genuine companies usually send professionally written messages. Schwartz’s phishing email included glaring errors like “passwoard” instead of “password,” which is a strong indicator of a scam.
- Be suspicious of alarming or urgent messages that ask you to take immediate action, such as changing your password. Legitimate companies rarely use threatening or overly urgent language.
- Avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments within suspicious emails. Instead, navigate to websites directly through your browser or official apps.
- Verify claims by contacting the company or service through official channels, not via the email.
- Be cautious of social media impersonation scams as scammers often create fake profiles mimicking executives like Schwartz to lend credibility to phishing attempts.
In Schwartz’s specific case, the phishing email was a "New login alert for your account" from X. The email was sent from an address that appeared official but had a slight misspelling in the domain. Schwartz humorously shared this experience on Twitter to warn others. He also explicitly denied involvement with any fake Instagram or YouTube accounts impersonating him.
It's worth noting that major corporations do not use poor spelling in their emails, and would not ask you to change your "passwoord." Nor do they encourage users to change their passwords via email. The official X account of Ripple executive David Schwartz has never been hacked.
Schwartz is not the first Ripple executive to face such attempts. Last August, he issued a scam warning about bad actors promoting a bogus social media account that impersonated him. Arthur Britto, a co-founder of Ripple, recently re-emerged on social media, which might have made him a target for similar scams.
One user commented that the scammers are not good, as they can't even spear phish correctly. To avoid falling victim to phishing emails, carefully check the sender's email address, verify the authenticity of the email, and be cautious of any suspicious requests. Stay vigilant and stay safe!
- Schwartz's warning about phishing emails serves as a reminder that scammers often use subtle misspellings in their email addresses, like the one disguised as X in his case, to deceive victims.
- In the realm of cryptocurrency and technology, it's crucial to verify the legitimacy of emails, especially when they ask for sensitive information like password changes, since major corporations and executives like Schwartz would not request such actions via email due to cybersecurity reasons.
