Ledger investigates suspected wallet tampering tied to crypto thefts

Ledger has paused a reseller’s sales while it checks whether an unauthorized implant may have exposed customers’ seed phrases and helped drain wallets.

Ledger says it is investigating reports that some customers’ crypto wallets were tampered with before sale, and it has asked reseller CryptoBillis to stop selling the devices while it looks into the issue. The concern matters because the alleged implant may capture the seed phrase during setup and send it to an attacker, which could explain why users’ accounts were drained. The Verge says the thefts linked to the suspected supply-chain attack are above $86 million and involve hundreds of wallets. Ledger says one affected device contained an unauthorized hardware implant, but it has not indicated that its own systems were breached or that wallets bought directly from Ledger were hit.