Bengaluru Woman Loses Over Rs. 20 Lakh in MetaMask Wallet Hack Within Two Hours as Stolen Crypto Assets Including Ethereum, WBTC, and USDC Were Traced to Accounts Linked With KuCoin Exchange
A 29-year-old woman from Bengaluru is said to have lost assets worth over Rs. 20 lakh as hackers allegedly accessed her MetaMask wallet and removed funds within hours, raising the alarm about the cybersecurity threats in the digital asset space.
The complainant, resident of Electronic City noticed that within a span of a few hours, her crypto assets were missing in the early hours of April 28, 2026, according to the complaint filed with the South-East Cyber Crime Police. The stolen assets were worth $21,377 (around Rs. 20 lakhs) which included WBTC, Ethereum, Arbitrum, and USDC.
Hackers Allegedly Drained Wallet Between 2:30 AM and 4:30 AM
The victim had previously been employed by a blockchain company till 2024, and part of her salary was paid in cryptocurrency, according to the complaint.
As per complainant, the wallet was hacked between 2:30 am and 4:30 am on April 28, the thief is said to have sent the entire wallet amount to another crypto address. How the hack occurred is still not determined.
The victim was alerted about the breach via her mobile phone when she received transaction alerts. She then employed blockchain monitoring solutions, such as Etherscan and Arbiscan to follow the funds trail.
She found that the assets were brought together in accounts allegedly connected to crypto exchange KuCoin.
Exchange Temporarily Froze Suspected Accounts
The victim immediately reached out to KuCoin’s support team and asked for emergency freezing of the accounts that received the stolen crypto assets.
The exchange temporarily froze the funds and told her that the funds would have to be formally placed into the hands of the law enforcement via an LEA E-form process for recovery, the complaint said.
The police has filed a case on cheat and impersonation, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
Also Read: Crypto Scam Losses in India Cross ₹3 Crore in First Week of May 2026
Rising Crypto Crimes Highlight Security Risks
This incident highlights the growing concern around crypto wallet security and the rise of the attacks on “hot” wallets and decentralized finance users by cybercriminals.
Crypto experts recommend crypto investors to take advantage of 2FA, ignore suspicious links and fake airdrop offers, to update wallet software regularly, and use hardware wallets to store large crypto holdings.
Experts also say that it’s best to keep longer-term investments in a different wallet than a daily trading one, and to employ a strong and unique password in all wallet- and crypto-related accounts to minimize the risk of phishing, malware or wallet compromise.
