My Wallet Was Compromised

The Sandbox offers some advice and guidance to those with compromised cryptocurrency wallets.

My Wallet Was Compromised

The Sandbox is deeply sorry that something you did not authorise has occurred. We understand this is an extremely upsetting and stressful situation. Because The Sandbox highly values every member of their community and metaverse, we want to help guide you through it as much as we can as a third-party.

Reasons

How Did My Wallet Get Compromised?

Here are some of the common reasons why a cryptocurrency wallet can become compromised.

• The wallet's seed phrase - also sometimes key phrase, passkey, security key, or recovery phrase - was exposed to a bad individual by the wallet owner.

  • For example, you might have shared this seed phrase with someone posing as a member of a support team for any project or exchange on the blockchain. The Sandbox's genuine staff will never send you a DM and will never ask you for this information.

• The wallet's seed phrase was exposed to a bad individual because you connected your wallet to an unofficial third-party DAPP or website, which stole this information.

  • The Sandbox will never advise you to connect your wallet to anywhere that is not https://www.sandbox.game.

• You interacted with a fake/scam coin that was deposited into your wallet, instead of hiding it via your Etherscan/Polygonscan, etc account settings.

• You have a spyware viral infection on your computer. Usually the result of visiting shady websites (ie, piracy websites), downloading compromised files (ie, cracked games), or clicking links/attachments in shady emails/DMs. Or your computer or browser is being "managed" by a "company" which has hijacked it.

• You downloaded an unofficial, fake wallet app or extension that was not from the wallet's official website.

• Your hardware wallet, if you have one, was compromised before or during its transit to you.

Learn more: Wallet Security

Next Steps

What Should I Do Next?

As soon as possible, you need to contact the support team for the specific, compromised third-party wallet that you are using. They will have the tools to investigate this much further for you - tools that The Sandbox doesn't have, on account of your wallet being a third-party.

MetaMask Support | Coinbase Support | Bitski Support | Venly Support

Brave Support | Ledger Support | Trezor Support

If you still have funds or NFTs in the wallet

You should move them immediately to a different wallet.

• There is a withdraw button within the wallet itself, for moving funds.

• Some wallets allow you to move NFTs from within the wallet itself. If it does not, you will need to use the transfer NFTs feature on NFT exchanges such as OpenSea.io.

• If you need to send ETH/MATIC to the wallet for gas fees - Before you do this, make sure that you check the connected sites/DAPPs settings of your wallet and revoke the access of anything that you do not recognise.

  • Click here for instructions from MetaMask.

  • Alternatively, there's a third-party tool that inspects and allows you to remove connections to your wallet: https://revoke.cash/.

    • 🔗 See more security tools.

If your NFTs have been listed for sale on an NFT exchange, such as OpenSea

You need to contact the support team for the platform that your NFTs, such as LANDs, were listed on. There is usually a report button on the listing's page that you can click to reach out to their moderation team.

OpenSea | LooksRare | Rarible

Your Account at The Sandbox: Disconnect or Change Wallet

Since your wallet was compromised, you will need to cease using it and connect a new wallet to The Sandbox. See Change or Disconnect a Wallet on the Manage Wallet page.

Should I report any thefts from my wallet to the police?

This is honestly a difficult question for The Sandbox to answer accurately, because different nations, and sometimes different jurisdictions within those nations, treat cryptocurrency differently. You will need to enquire with your local law enforcement department yourself in regard to this. Most likely their cybercrimes department, if they have one, or their anti-fraud department if not. If you decide to go down this avenue, The Sandbox will support you as much as it can - bear in mind that The Sandbox will not be able to share any personal information directly with you personally, due to data protection regulations such as GDPR.

Recovery/Compensation

Can The Sandbox Recover Stolen Funds or NFTs?

Sadly, no, we regret to inform you that The Sandbox cannot recover any funds or NFTs (such as LANDs) that were taken from your wallet.

Your funds and NFTs are decentralised. This means that as soon as they are in the user's wallet, the company has absolutely zero control over them. Aside from that, due to the way that the blockchain itself works on the technical level, completed transactions cannot be reverted.

Third-Party Recovery Specialists/Firms

There are some legitimate recovery firms out there, but there are also people seeking to take advantage pretending to be one. Please research carefully before hiring or providing your personal information to any third-party firms to assist you.

Will The Sandbox Compensate Me for Lost Funds or NFTs?

No, unfortunately The Sandbox will not be able to provide you with any free replacement funds or NFTs. This would not be fair to others, and it would also negatively affect the value of the funds or NFTs for other holders and investors.

We know this may sound cold-hearted, but it is your sole responsibility to manage the security of your own cryptocurrency wallet, as well as any funds and NFTs stored in it. Our community has many informational channels and educational resources to help you develop knowledge on the topic of security in the crypto world, and there are many resources outside of it as well. It is solely your responsibility to choose to read and follow guidance from educational materials in order to protect your digital content.

Talk to Someone

Can I Talk to Someone?

Absolutely! Talking to other people is one of the best ways to get through a stressful situation like this.

You can visit our Discord community to discuss your situation with other members who may have also experienced something similar. Our staff and trusted ambassadors are also available.

However, if you prefer, you can open a private support ticket for your privacy - only our staff and trusted ambassadors will see your support ticket. They may also be able to help you trace where your tokens have gone, if you need help with that, but remember that they will not be able to recover them for you.

Click here to go to The Sandbox's official Discord community.

Please note that response times for private support tickets may vary, due to factors such as timezones, national holidays, workloads, and the number of support tickets opened before yours was submitted.

The Sandbox's staff and ambassadors are there to help and guide you. We fully understand that you will be stressed and/or angry about what has happened, but please be courteous and respectful to our staff and ambassadors, as they will be towards you.

Moving Forward

Again, The Sandbox is just as devastated as you are that your wallet was compromised. You are very important and highly valued to us, so this news breaks our hearts.

Please make sure you have followed all of the advice on this page, as well as all the Security Topics education we provide here in our knowledgebase and the informational channels in our Discord server.

We strongly advise you to invest in a hardware wallet to improve your crypto security even further.

Please get in touch with us and The Sandbox metaverse through our Discord community if you need someone to talk to.

The Sandbox wishes you and your wallet provider all the best in investigating what happened, and we sincerely hope that any unsold NFTs that were stolen from you can be recovered by the NFT exchange. We hope that, if anything, this unpleasant situation is an educational experience that can empower you to learn more about Web3 technology and how to safeguard your digital content in the future.