Betterment, a financial app, sent suspicious notifications promising a “triple return on crypto” to its users on January 10. On Friday, Betterment users received a message instructing them to send $10,000 to Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets, which was later confirmed to be an unauthorized communication originating from a third-party system. Some users also received similar notifications via email, underscoring the security breach affecting the financial application.
The notification sent on Friday claimed that Betterment was giving back to users and celebrating its best year by tripling Bitcoin and Ethereum deposits within the next three hours. It stated that, for example, if someone sent $10,000 worth of Bitcoin or Ethereum, the company would return $30,000 to the sender’s address.
Betterment responded to the issue and updated the users regarding the unauthorized messages sent to them. They formally apologized for the inconvenience caused to their users as well.
In an X post, Betterment said that earlier in the evening, some users might have received a message referring to a crypto-related Betterment promotion, but clarified that it was an unauthorized message sent through a third-party system used for marketing and customer communications. The company emphasized that the message was not a real offer and should be disregarded, and apologized for any confusion caused.
Multiple discussions regarding this topic have been heating up on forums platforms like Reddit. People are accusing the financial app and claiming that they should be apologizing for the security breach rather than the confusion.
Unauthorized Crypto Alerts Spark Debate Over Betterment’s Internal Security and Credibility
A Reddit user with the username SIGNW commented that the incident appeared to be an inside job scam or the result of Betterment’s internal systems being hijacked. The user claimed that the support system and customer email infrastructure had been accessed and that the message had indeed been sent from the company’s servers. They also said they had never signed up for Betterment, noting that they had only been on the waitlist for a high-APY checking account long ago, and added that there was now no chance they would sign up.
Another user, identified as gmfm, also stated that he had received the same message. He said he had tried to sign up for Betterment some time ago but was unable to fully open an account, which immediately made the message seem like a scam, even though the email appeared to have been sent from Betterment’s systems. He added that another major red flag was that the wallet addresses in the email were the same as those he had received, and that deposits sent to the Bitcoin wallet were being immediately tumbled elsewhere.
The incident resembles a crypto giveaway or an impersonation scam, with a possibility of an internal system compromise. The findings are based on the classic hallmarks of crypto scams that generally promise to multiply deposited crypto. The possibility of a scam can be ruled out since the officials have clarified that the incident could be due to the internal breach, third-party vendor compromise, or insider misuse rather than an organized scam. A security breach or internal misuse could prove more damaging than a phishing scam, as the credibility of the financial app will remain in question until the issue is resolved.
