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High reported severity Investigation Opened

Russia: a crypto investor lost about $2.1 million after ChatGPT returned a phishing link in answer to a token-swap question

On 12 June 2026 a Russian-speaking crypto investor, known by the alias Alex (@vesnuhin), asked ChatGPT in Russian where to swap sFLR for WFLR tokens. ChatGPT's reply included a link to sceptre.network, a phishing clone of the legitimate sceptre.fi. He connected his wallet and signed an unlimited-approval transaction; within seconds about 1.9 million FXRP, worth roughly $2.1 million (about 180 million rubles), were drained. A blockchain analyst traced the theft, and reported that the phishing link appeared only in Russian-language answers. Russia's Interior Ministry (MVD) later confirmed the loss.

AI system
ChatGPT
OpenAI
Occurred
12 Jun 2026
Reported
4 September 2026
Event location
Russia
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Finance
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts
3 claims: 1 documented, 1 corroborated, 1 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: ChatGPT (OpenAI)

What Happened

On 12 June 2026 an anonymous Russian-speaking crypto investor using the alias Alex asked ChatGPT, in Russian, where he could exchange sFLR (a Flare liquid-staking token) for WFLR. ChatGPT's answer included a link to sceptre.network, an exact phishing copy of the legitimate sceptre.fi service. Believing it legitimate, Alex connected his wallet and signed a transaction with unlimited approval; seconds later someone used the transferFrom function to drain about 1,904,513 FXRP, worth roughly $2.1 million (about 180 million rubles), around 1.3% of the circulating FXRP supply. Alex published the transaction and wallet addresses on X, asking for help tracing the funds. A blockchain researcher working under the alias VAL found the receiving wallet had been active since April 2026, had received funds from other users, and moved some proceeds through Tornado Cash; VAL reported the same phishing scheme had netted more than $2.2 million and, crucially, that the phishing link surfaced only in response to Russian-language queries, indicating deliberate data-poisoning targeted at Russian-speaking users. Russian technology outlets (bits.media, vc.ru, hi-tech.mail.ru, Habr) reported the case in early September, and RAPSI reported on 11 September that the MVD had confirmed the loss.

Reported harm

A crypto investor lost about $2.1 million (some 180 million rubles) after connecting his wallet to a phishing site whose link ChatGPT had returned in answer to a Russian-language token-swap question; Russia's Interior Ministry confirmed the loss.

Outcome

Ongoing

Russia's Interior Ministry (MVD), through its unit for combating unlawful use of information-and-communications technology, confirmed to RAPSI that a crypto investor lost about 180 million rubles ($2.1 million) after following a phishing link ChatGPT provided. The blockchain analyst tracing the funds reported part of the stolen assets were routed through Tornado Cash. No arrests are reported; the phishing link no longer appears in ChatGPT answers.

What remains unknown

  • The investor's full identity and exact location within Russia are not established; only the alias Alex/@vesnuhin is public.
  • No arrests or defendants are identified.
  • Whether OpenAI has acknowledged or acted on the reported Russian-language data-poisoning is not established in the inspected sources.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. Multiple technology outlets and a blockchain analyst report that the phishing link appeared in ChatGPT's answer to the investor's Russian-language question, and Russia's Interior Ministry confirmed to RAPSI that the loss followed a phishing link ChatGPT provided. The theft itself was executed by the scam operators; ChatGPT's role was surfacing the phishing link, reportedly only in Russian-language responses.

3 claims: 1 documented, 1 corroborated, 1 reported. What the statuses mean

Corroborated On 12 June 2026 a Russian-speaking investor asked ChatGPT in Russian where to swap sFLR for WFLR; ChatGPT returned a link to sceptre.network, a phishing clone of sceptre.fi; he connected his wallet, signed an unlimited-approval transaction, and about 1.9 million FXRP (~$2.1 million) were drained.

Causal attribution. The on-chain analysis (VAL, carried by s1/s2/s4) and the MVD confirmation (s3) are independent chains for the loss and the ChatGPT-link mechanism.

  • bits.media(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
    'ChatGPT... выдала ссылку на страницу, которая оказалась сайтом мошенников'; '1 904 513 FXRP — примерно $2,1 млн'; 'unlimited approval'.
  • vc.ru(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
    '12 июня 2026 года... обменять токены sFLR на WFLR. Он посоветовался с ChatGPT'; 'ссылка на sceptre.network — точную копию легитимного сервиса sceptre.fi'; '1 904 513 FXRP — примерно $2,1 млн'.
  • rapsinews.ru(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
    'Криптоинвестор потерял около 180 миллионов рублей после перехода по фишинговой ссылке, которую посоветовал ChatGPT'; 'похитили около 2,1 миллиона долларов'.
Reported The phishing link appeared only in ChatGPT's Russian-language answers, indicating deliberate data-poisoning targeting Russian-speaking users; the link no longer appears.

Causal attribution. Reported by the blockchain analyst (VAL) and carried by the Russian tech press; not independently verified by the MVD.

  • vc.ru(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
    'фишинговая ссылка появлялась только в ответах на русском языке. При аналогичных запросах на других языках ChatGPT её не выдавал. Мошенники целенаправленно "отравляли" данные для русскоязычных пользователей.'
  • bits.media(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
    'Сейчас фишинговая ссылка больше не появляется в ChatGPT'.
Documented Russia's Interior Ministry (MVD) confirmed the loss of about 180 million rubles ($2.1 million).

Causal attribution. Attributed to the MVD press service via RAPSI.

  • rapsinews.ru(opens in new tab) supports · Russian
    'сообщили РАПСИ в пресс-службе Управления по организации борьбы с противоправным использованием информационно-коммуникационных технологий МВД РФ'.

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 2 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Russian on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2026-09-04). Relays blockchain analyst VAL's on-chain investigation: sFLR/WFLR query, sceptre.network phishing clone, 1.9M FXRP (~$2.1M) drained via unlimited approval, Tornado Cash routing. Model reading; no human bilingual review. Applies to s1.

Read in Russian on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2026-09-05). Names the 12 June 2026 date, alias Alex, the unlimited-approval signing, and that the phishing link appeared only in Russian-language answers. Derives from VAL's report. Model reading. Applies to s2.

Read in Russian on 2026-09-17 (RAPSI, 11 Sep 2026). Attributes the confirmation to the press service of the MVD's unit for combating unlawful use of ICT: ~180 million rubles / ~$2.1M lost after a ChatGPT-provided phishing link. Independent official confirmation. Model reading. Applies to s3.

Read in Russian on 2026-09-17 (datePublished 2026-09-07). Russian tech-press account derived from VAL's report. Model reading. Applies to s4.

Event countries: Russia. Affected-person countries: Russia. Court countries: Unknown.

The investor is Russian-speaking and the case was confirmed by Russia's Interior Ministry (RAPSI). Event and affected-person country recorded as Russia on that basis. No court proceeding established.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-17: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter, which includes fraud and security consequences in scope. A crypto investor acted on a phishing link ChatGPT returned to his Russian-language query and lost about $2.1 million; the loss is confirmed independently by Russia's Interior Ministry and traced on-chain by a blockchain analyst. Causation of the AI's role (surfacing the phishing link) is supported; the theft was executed by scam operators.

People described

A Russian-speaking cryptocurrency investor, identified only by the alias Alex / @vesnuhin; not otherwise named

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One affected person: the investor who acted on the ChatGPT-provided link and lost about $2.1 million. VAL's report that a related scheme netted more than $2.2 million from other users is not used as a person count.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#chatgpt#openai#phishing#crypto#financial-loss#data-poisoning#russia

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Russia: a crypto investor lost about $2.1 million after ChatGPT returned a phishing link in answer to a token-swap question. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-russia-chatgpt-phishing-crypto-theft

BibTeX

@misc{2026_russia_chatgpt_phishing_crypto_theft,
  title = {Russia: a crypto investor lost about \$2.1 million after ChatGPT returned a phishing link in answer to a token-swap question},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-russia-chatgpt-phishing-crypto-theft}
}

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