Whale Loses Over $282M in BTC and LTC to Social Engineering Scam, Attacker Swaps Funds into Monero Driving Sharp XMR Price Surge

A large crypto holder lost more than $282 million worth of Bitcoin and Litecoin from a hardware wallet on Jan. 10, 2026 around 11 p.m. UTC after falling victim to a social engineering scam, ZachXBT reports. The attacker converted the stolen BTC and LTC into Monero via multiple instant exchange services, triggering a rapid XMR price increase, while part of the Bitcoin was bridged through Thorchain to the Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin networks. Social engineering scams exploit human psychology and trust to trick victims into surrendering sensitive information or assets, rather than targeting technical vulnerabilities directly.