Metamask's new partnership to help scam victims recover stolen funds

Popular browser-based crypto wallet MetaMask on Thursday announced that it is partnering with Asset Reality, a London-based platform specialised in recovering crypto and digital assets, to help crypto scam victims recover stolen assets.

MetaMask is one of the largest browser-based non-custodial wallets with more than 30 million users across the world. However, the platform's popularity has led to increasing cases of scams and phishing targeting its users.

The average amount lost in a crypto scam is an eye-watering $25,000, according to Asset Reality, but can occasionally exceed $1 million.

MetaMask plans to fight cryptocurrency fraud through this new partnership with Asset Reality and the company has confirmed that the service will be available for all Metamask users globally.

Today we’re happy to announce that we’ve partnered with Asset Reality (@asset_reality) to give victims of cryptocurrency scams a chance at recovering funds that have been stolen.

1/ 🧵

— MetaMask 🦊💙 (@MetaMask) May 26, 2022

"Victims of scams often have difficulty getting sufficient resources and attention from law enforcement. Asset Reality’s offering allows multiple victims of a scam operation to join forces and build a larger forensic investigation against a scam operation," said MetaMask in a statement. "They will take the heavy lifting off the users to build an investigation into each scam operation."

However, victims will have to first go through a simple five step process to kick off the recovery process.

Here is what you can do if your MetaMask wallet gets hacked:

1. If a user’s account is compromised and their funds are stolen through a scam, they will need to first contact MetaMask via the official platform to report their losses and begin an investigation.
   
2. Metamask support will then interview the affected users to find out how they were compromised and request any relevant information about phishing websites, vectors and the lost funds.
   
3. After providing users with safety tips, Metamask support will direct the user to open a case with Asset Reality through a page on metamask.io
   
4. Asset Reality will take over communication with the user and proactively keep them updated on the status of their case as the investigation progresses.

It’s worth noting that despite the service being offered is absolutely free for all Metamask’s users, victims who want to pursue legal actions need to pay for their litigation fees.

"While our services will be free for Metamask users, they might still need to cover legal costs if they decide that pursuing recovery makes economic sense for them. However, if these legal costs are too high, we’ll help the victims to join forces and pursue collective action as a group, building a much larger forensic investigation against a scam operation," wrote Asset Reality in a post on its blog.