The article recounts a personal experience with a sophisticated phishing scam targeting a Coinbase user. The author details how scammers used stolen personal information to manipulate them into revealing more data and discusses Coinbase's inadequate response to the breach.

Coinbase experienced a significant data breach in 2025 that compromised the personal information of nearly 70,000 users due to unauthorized access by outsourced call center agents in India. The attackers leveraged social engineering tactics, leading to a rise in phishing attempts, while Coinbase faced estimated remediation costs between $180 million to $400 million and launched a bounty for information on the perpetrators. The incident has sparked discussions on the vulnerabilities associated with outsourcing sensitive customer data management.