exit10-exodus.com is a scam

I don’t believe I fell for this, but I did.

I saw a Facebook ad promising to give me some money (10 EXIT) for trying out a mobile web version of Exodus. I really wanted to see a mobile app that didn’t require installation.

I’m greedy for freebies, so I clicked. It asked for my 12 word recovery phrase.

I typed it in. That was STUPID, but I did it.

I really wasn’t thinking.

Within a day, $26 worth of BCH was taken from the wallet.

Fortunately, the other coin wasn’t worth enough to steal.

This could have been a lot worse.

There’s no recovery from a heist like this. I will need to create a new wallet, and move the remaining funds (a whopping $6 of BSV) over to it. Click the link to get the instructions from the Exodus website.

Here’s a brief description of my process, on MINT Linux:

1. create a new user account. I’m using Linux, so I do that in the “Settings”.
2. Lock the screen, and switch to the other user.
3. Start Exodus there, and it’ll create a fresh wallet.
4. At this point, you will need a way to copy receiver addresses from one account to the other. You cannot use copy-paste.
   1. What I did was use the “Notes” feature in LastPass. You can use any note app that saves data to the network.
   2. Create a receiver address for each coin you are going to transfer.
   3. Put that info into the Notes.
5. Next, make a backup of the wallet. This will require creating a new password, and will show a new 12-word seed.
6. Print out the seed, or, do what I did, which was to type it into the LastPass note. I know, this is not totally secure, but it’s what I did. A printout is better.
7. Switch users again, by locking the screen, and then switching users.
8. To synchronize the LastPass notes, I logged out of LastPass and logged back in.
9. Go into the compromized Exodus wallet and send your coin to the new receiver addresses.
10. Next up, quit Exodus, and delete the old wallet files. In my case, they were in ~/.config/Exodus.
11. Start up Exodus, and go through the backup restoration process.

I really should use a printed backup, but my filing and living situation is a bit to chaotic. The printout needs to be stored in multiple, well labeled locations, with instructions.

While $26 is not a lot of money, it could have been used to buy some food.

I’m reporting exit10-exodus.com to Fcebook.