ByCoinGape
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Crypto exchange Kraken has rolled out a new security feature Kraken Support in order to help fight crypto scams.
The feature, announced on August 6, extends the exchange’s existing in-app call verification system to standard phone callbacks. Users will now see a verification banner inside the Kraken app when a legitimate support agent calls them.
The feature, announced by Kraken Chief Security Officer Nicholas Percoco, is designed to counter one of the crypto industry’s most persistent attack vectors.That is the fraudsters posing as exchange support agents to trick users into transferring funds or revealing sensitive account information.
“Scammers are calling our clients pretending to be Kraken Support, or reps from other crypto firms. The script rarely changes. They tell you there’s a security issue with your account and you need to move your funds somewhere safe now,” Percoco said in a LinkedIn post.
Under the new system, a Kraken Support callback is registered as verified once the user’s support case is active with the agent.
Users can then open their Kraken app and check for a confirmed banner indicating that they are speaking with Kraken Support. For an additional layer of protection, Kraken will also generate a one-time verification code in the app.
As per the official blog, the exchange’s users can ask the person on the phone to read the code back to them. If the code matches the one displayed in the app, the caller has legitimate access to the user’s Kraken Support case.
Kraken is also introducing stronger warnings for calls it cannot verify.
If a user attempts to withdraw funds or change sensitive account settings while on an unverified call, the app will display an additional warning and remind them of common scam tactics.
The company has already made the feature live across its latest versions of Kraken app, Kraken Pro and Krak.
The exchange says the additional authentication layer is intended to make it significantly harder for scammers to impersonate company representatives during social engineering attacks.
Kraken’s latest security rollout comes at a time when the crypto industry is grappling with increasingly sophisticated attacks targeting both exchanges and wallet users.
Just days ago, security researchers uncovered a flaw affecting older versions of Coldcard hardware wallets. This allowed attackers to exploit weak key generation and drain nearly $100 million worth of bitcoin from more than 1,000 wallets in coordinated attacks. Users with vulnerable wallets have been urged to generate new seed phrases and migrate their assets immediately.
Unlike those attacks, Kraken’s new feature focuses on a different but rapidly growing threat: social engineering.
Rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities, scammers increasingly impersonate exchange support staff. They convince users that their accounts have been compromised before directing them to transfer assets to attacker-controlled wallets or reveal sensitive credentials.
The approach has become one of the industry’s most effective fraud tactics. This is prompting exchanges to invest more heavily in user verification alongside traditional cybersecurity measures.
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