By Lina Hope 
Analysts at BitMEX Research have issued an urgent warning to the cryptocurrency community regarding a sophisticated new scam campaign targeting early Bitcoin holders, specifically focusing on dormant wallets dating back to the foundational years of the network, such as 2011.
According to the research firm, the fraudulent operation exploits long-inactive blockchain addresses by injecting deceptive transactions and misleading messages directly into the ledger. This is accomplished using OP_Return outputs—an optional field within Bitcoin transactions that allows users to permanently attach a small amount of arbitrary data to the blockchain. By leveraging this feature, bad actors are able to broadcast their malicious payloads straight to the on-chain history of targeted high-value or historical accounts.
In one of the most prominent documented cases of this campaign, the perpetrators set their sights on the heavily scrutinized "1Feex" wallet. This well-known address currently holds approximately 80,000 Bitcoins, funds that are widely believed to have been illicitly acquired during the historic security breach of the Mt. Gox exchange in its early operational days. The attackers crafted a malicious message within this address’s transaction stream, enticing anyone monitoring the wallet to visit a fraudulent external website designed to closely impersonate the defunct financial institution Salomon Brothers.
Upon visiting the fake online portal, prospective victims are confronted with a fabricated legal notice. The site asserts that the targeted wallet is officially considered "lost or abandoned" under hypothetical legal frameworks. To resolve this manufactured crisis, the portal invites supposed rightful owners to step forward and prove their ownership claims. Victims are instructed to either sign an on-chain message utilizing the cryptographic private key associated with the wallet or to submit extensive personal documentation through an online web contact form provided on the platform.
Adding a sense of manufactured urgency to the deception, the notice explicitly states that if no formal response or verification is received by October 5, the wallet will be permanently deemed legally abandoned, effectively pressuring targeted individuals into making rash security decisions.
Fake Legal Claims and Fabricated Advisory Boards
Security analysts and researchers have quickly unmasked the operation, noting that the fraudulent website exhibits no credible legal or operational link to the genuine historical investment bank Salomon Brothers or its former leadership network. While the perpetrators went to considerable lengths to lend an air of legitimacy to the site—including displaying a comprehensive list of real individuals who genuinely worked at the firm during the 1980s—investigations reveal these former professionals have zero association with the spurious entity running the scam.
BitMEX Research detailed these findings in their public advisory, underscoring the deceptive nature of the setup. The firm stated that the links between the shell company and the website are entirely fabricated, pointing out that the presence of an authentic "advisory board" listing real-world former Salomon Brothers personnel is merely a social engineering tactic intended to build false trust with unsuspecting visitors who might remember the historical institution.
Cryptocurrency community members and on-chain analysts have also weighed in on the mechanics of the scam, pointing out glaring inconsistencies that expose its fraudulent nature. Observers noted that legitimate wallet owners looking to prove ongoing activity or control over a historical address would simply need to broadcast a routine, small-scale transaction moving a minimal amount of Bitcoin to demonstrate life, rather than surrendering sensitive cryptographic keys or uploading personal identification documents to an unverified third-party web portal.
These glaring red flags have led security researchers to suspect that the campaign is part of a much broader, highly calculated social engineering effort. Rather than directly cracking wallets—which remains cryptographically infeasible—the attackers are primarily attempting to harvest sensitive personal information, private keys, or login credentials under the guise of official legal compliance and regulatory oversight.
In light of these findings, BitMEX Research has emphasized that users must exercise extreme caution and under no circumstances interact with the provided contact forms, submit personal details, or attempt to sign cryptographic messages through untrusted external platforms.
The Escalating Landscape of Crypto Fraud
The emergence of these inventive social engineering tactics highlights the growing sophistication and complexity of modern cryptocurrency-related fraud. As blockchain analytics tools become more effective at tracking stolen funds and identifying illicit wallet movements, malicious actors are increasingly turning to psychological manipulation, legal intimidation, and metadata injection to deceive digital asset holders.
This campaign arrives against a backdrop of escalating financial losses across the broader digital asset ecosystem. Industry data indicates that the first half of the year has proven particularly lucrative for cybercriminals and state-backed hacking syndicates. Over the course of the initial six months, malicious actors successfully stole more than $2.1 billion across roughly 75 separate security incidents and exploits. This staggering figure represents an approximate 10% increase in total stolen funds compared to the same tracking period in the previous year, underscoring an ongoing challenge for institutional and retail security alike.
As security teams continue to monitor the blockchain for further OP_Return injections and related phishing domains, industry experts reiterate that historical cryptocurrency holders remain prime targets for sophisticated threat actors. The incident serves as a stark reminder that as digital asset values appreciate over time, dormant accounts from the early eras of Bitcoin remain vulnerable not just to direct key compromise, but to elaborate psychological schemes designed to exploit uncertainty around legal ownership and regulatory compliance.
Asro 
Layla Zulfa 
Muslim