Chukwudalu "Dalu" Akabogu, a Nigerian finance professional with a significant following on the social media platform X under the handle @Ssaasquatch, reported receiving a scam call from an individual who seemed to possess his personal details from Bybit. Akabogu urged users to secure their funds in a post on X.
"Bybit's been compromised," said Akabogu, Former Vice President. "Our data is out there in the dark web. Just got a call from someone claiming to be a “Bybit rep. They knew my full name and ID, said a guy in Slovakia was trying to withdraw 1 BTC while “seeing” I'm in Lagos."
According to Brinztech, a dark-web monitoring firm, a database allegedly belonging to the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit is being sold on a hacker forum. The purported contents of this database include users' personally identifiable information (PII), physical addresses, and trading activity. Brinztech warns that such data dumps can become "hit lists" for scammers, enabling targeted vishing and extortion by callers who reference private details to sound credible. This mirrors the impersonation call received by Akabogu.
Following a breach in February 2025, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attributed the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency from Bybit to actors linked with North Korea. The agency described this campaign under its "TraderTraitor" umbrella and warned that stolen assets were quickly moved across thousands of addresses, complicating recovery efforts. The scale and sophistication of these actions highlight persistent targeting of the exchange's users post-breach.
The Guardian reported on the immediate aftermath of the heist, stating that hackers drained around $1.5 billion from a Bybit Ethereum wallet in what was described as the largest digital theft to date. Bybit claimed it held approximately $20 billion in customer assets and faced a rush of withdrawals as over 350,000 customers sought to pull funds, leading to processing delays. In response, the firm offered a 10% bounty on recovered funds, up to roughly $140 million.
Akabogu has been profiled by Zikoko as a Nigerian finance professional discussing career lessons, resilience, and money management. The profile presents him as thoughtful about risk and family priorities, supporting his credibility when advising crypto users to self-custody and verify claims amid exchange-related security issues.