Nexus Mutual attacker wants $3 million in ransom money

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Today, The Nexus Mutual attacker reached out to Nexus Mutual CEO Hugh Karp demanding ransom money. 

Hello Hugh. I will not sell wNXM any more until wNXM recovers his value or you send me 4.5k ETH.If you need any negotiation with me, send msg to my eth address. The following addresses are your addresses, You are rich Hugh…

Said the attacker’s message to Karp, which was sent over the ethereum blockchain.

At current prices, the 4,500 ETH that the attacker is looking for are worth $2,807,955.

Shortly after the attacker sent the message, Karp posted on Twitter saying that he does not have as much money as the attacker believes he has, and that the addresses that the hacker thinks belong to Hugh actually belong to Nexus Mutual.

0xFC6.. is the Nexus Foundation address, it's not mine.

I don't have that much ETH https://t.co/4isS3aKBd9

— Hugh Karp 🐢 (@HughKarp) December 16, 2020

The attacker is cashing out

The Nexus Mutual attacker has cashed out about $2.7 million of the $8.3 million they stole and is liquidating the funds by way of decentralized exchanges. As stated in the attacker’s ransom note, the attacker allegedly is not going to liquidate anymore WNXM–which they stole 370,000 of during the December 14th Nexus Mutual hack. So why is the hacker waiting for the price of WNXM–or a $2.8 million ransom payment– before they resume liquidating stolen funds or return the remaining funds? Because the Nexus Mutual hack has had devastating effects on the project and its economy.

Shortly after the hack took place, the price of the WNXM token dropped from $19.18 to $16.09, a 16% decrease in value. It’s possible that the attacker made this announcement to give the Nexus Mutual community some confidence that the suspension of stolen-fund sales will allow the Nexus Mutual economy to bounce back.

Regarding the ransom, Nexus Mutual CEO, Hugh Karp offered the attacker a $300,000 reward if they returned the stolen funds, however, the hacker is looking for roughly 10x that amount before they agree to the deal.