Hey Are you open to working on projects right now?

By William Entriken

10 minutes

Sharing my experience here with a spearphishing campaign where somebody approached me as a potential client. But their intention was to have me run software on my computer. The goal was assumedly to steal any cryptocurrency I have access to.

Below are the full details af the exchange. i.e. I am doxxing my private communications with this person and team since I believe they were in bad faith.

Please use this as a case study and keep yourself safe.

[sic title]

Email thread 1 / “Hire”

Use separate email addresses for everything. This helps you identify why somebody is contacting you.

This thread has the subject “hire”, and is initiated from Timothy smith <0xtimothysmith@gmail.com> with the email address listed in my GitHub account. For brevity, I omit salutation and closing lines, if any, from each message.

[sic name]

From: Timothy smith

Hey Are you open to working on projects right now?

Relevant email headers 
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MIME-Version: 1.0
From: Timothy smith <0xtimothysmith@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2023 00:10:38 +0100
Message-ID: <CAMaW6jwnxuERhdCTnNX0LnOy=y2jhbzGKwgXAu9Zbfx7B_30Mg@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Hire

From: William Entriken

Hi, thank you for reaching out.

Yes, I am open to new client work now if it is a good fit. Looking into work on an advisory basis.

I notice you are connecting from my email address on GitHub but normally people reach me from my website.

Please share as much as you can and this will help see if it’s a good fit.

Regards, Will

From: Timothy smith

I sended you message in twitter where you’d be more comfortable communicating? my name in twitter fl1psider

From: William Entriken

Thank you, yes, it’s the same to me.

Please send all the details you can so we can evaluate

From: Timothy smith

We have a project, it is at the stage of development for about 2 years. It is a innovative and futuristic crypto gaming project that specializes in creating expansive meta universes created on the UE5 engine with a total budget of $900,000 as of 2023. We have 6 investors, some of them are well known: 4 companies, 2 legal entities. Our project has two legal licenses in the UK, as well as Dubai, to trade assets and software development (game studio). We also have a license from Apple to put our game in their AppStore, as well as support for almost all platforms that exist today, ranging from Windows, to Linux and Oculus. We have Microsoft certificates, which allow us to confirm our development without any problems and put it into Microsoft Store. We also have 1 audit one by DappRadar, a detailed RoadMap / WhitePaper, a team of 28 people from different parts of the world, and we already have 4 patents on AI developments, which are already built into our worlds. You can also check out our trailer:

Trailer

From: William Entriken

Hi, thank you for sharing.

I would like to see a little bit more detail about what type of game this is. I am also advising other games, and want to see if there’s any conflict of interest. They’re probably isn’t one

And do you have an idea about what type of help it is that you’re looking for me? My portfolio and engagement plan for projects like this is on my website phor.net. Is that what you read before reaching out?

From: Timothy smith

Yes, our team has meticulously examined your portfolio, and rest assured, I am fully aware of your expertise and wouldn’t reach out otherwise. At the moment, our project is in the midst of an extensive rebranding process. I’d be happy to share with you a few promotional videos to give you a glimpse of the anticipated new look. Additionally, I would like to propose to you the role of the lead advisor in the project, a position that I believe aligns well with your skills and experience.

Trailer

From: William Entriken

Hi, thank you for sharing. Looks good.

Happy to set up a time to discuss details or we can discuss further here. This does not look too similar to other projects I am working on. As for the role, I am only able to work as a technical advisor—I cannot advise on legal or tax matters.

You are also welcome to present your project on an upcoming call on Community Service Hour at https://hour.gg if you would like to say anything publicly about it.

From: Timothy smith

Hey, thank you for your response! Yes, we are currently hosting gaming events in which our team is participating. It’s definitely a different project, as we strive to make our platform unique by adding various innovations and functionalities based on the Web3 concept. For now, our project is entirely unique, and there are no counterparts.

Regarding your role as a technical advisor, it is very valuable to us. The technical aspect of games and applications within the Web3 concept plays a key role, and your expert opinion and advice can greatly contribute to the development of our project.

I can add you to our gaming playground system, to our room. Also, I think there will be an opportunity to chat with the project founder. You can join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/quantumstudio

From: William Entriken

Thank you, I joined the Discord as @fulldecent. Just please know I don’t have notifications turned on for Discord, so responses there could be slow.

[sic name change]

From: Timothy Smith

Hey, I see. Glad you’ve joined! So, can we talk? I can grant you access rights. After that, I’ll be waiting for you in the conference room in our gaming playground.

From: William Entriken

Hi, I’ve been in there but didn’t know when to catch up.

Can you please send all details/documents you can about the project and our potential collaboration so I can read up and be prepared to meet? Also please let me know who would attend and any details on these people so I can do my own research too.

What times are good for the team?

From: Timothy Smith

Hey William All documents and other informational materials can be found on our Link3: https://link3.to/quant. If you need anything, feel free to write to me. With all due respect, Timothy Smith.

From: William Entriken

Thank you. I’m all read up on the whitepaper, that looks like the main information on that page. And who will be meeting and when are good times we could meet?

From: Timothy Smith

This week, you can meet with me or with our team of developers. I will now provide you access to our game playground in Discord. Write to me 20 minutes before you wish to have the meeting. Instructions on how to join us will be in our Discord channel.

From: William Entriken

Hi Tim, I think I have gotten access to the website. But it just wants me to download an app for Mac and it’s not on the App Store. Is this another way to access it? Or is that not the right link?

From: Timothy Smith

Hello William, yes, that’s correct. There’s nothing to worry about regarding our app not being in the App Store. This is because our app supports only three languages, while the App Store requires full localization in all languages. Overall, this doesn’t hinder our users from working and conducting negotiations.

All you need to do is obtain your QUANTUM ID and send it to me. I will invite you to a meeting room for a brief 30-minute interview. Instructions for accessing it are already available there. Additionally, I will attach documents to confirm your identity and our company’s legitimacy.

From: William Entriken

Thank you for sharing. I do not install software. does Quantum work other ways?

Also I cannot recommend other people to install software unless it is in an app store. There are several crypto projects offering software but actually they are malware, here is one of many examples: https://twitter.com/1c4m3by/status/1727977963864359216

From: Timothy Smith

We have an AMA conference tomorrow, and you are welcome to attend. I’m not knowledgeable about Mac systems, but I’m confident that you can download a virtual machine. If your memory allows, you can fully launch the launcher and the game itself to check that it’s not a scam. You can also install a sandbox if you have a Windows system and check it there. We can also prepare a complete contract for your work with the discussed salary; for this, we need to know how many hours you want to work per week and your full name.

From: William Entriken

Hi Tim, Yes, please send a Google Meet invite and we can catch up. I went and got a SSD drive to set up VMs, it is quite a process for Mac but I will get through it.

From: Timothy Smith

Alex told me how the call went, and I’m very glad we finally managed to get in touch. As I understand it, you have everything you need, and you will become a member of our team at the end of January. I’m very excited about what’s to come. Alex asked me to once again grant you access to the metaverse, despite you mentioning that you weren’t keen on installing anything on your PC. However, Alex is hopeful in your trust and believes that you can help us at this stage so that we don’t waste any time.

Windows: MTRX-ADV1-JNS9 MacOS: MTRX-ADV2-JNS9

From: William Entriken

Great. I am waiting on some details and actions from Alex so we can set this up. And then you can expect me in there and around more generally.

From: Timothy Smith

Hey, If you don’t mind asking, what are the details? Because as Alex told me, I was going to send you everything.

From: William Entriken

Great, you are good to send.

In the meantime I’m waiting for Alex to confirm how many hours per month we are committing, and his available times. Then I can send my first invoice. That’s what kicks it off.

From: Timothy Smith

You can choose a time on the calendar for a meeting with Alex: https://calendly.com/woolanalex/30min

Have you already tried entering the metaverse? Join in before the conference starts by clicking the Play button on our launcher, and you’ll join the lobby.

From: William Entriken

Thank you, I do see that. At this point Alex and I need to decide how many hours per month this engagement will be.

Then I can send my first invoice. Waiting on that and then we can confirm the schedule and put it on the calendar.

From: Timothy Smith

Hey, Alex says it’s about 1 to 3 hours a day.

From: William Entriken

Got it, thank you. Now discussing this under separate cover on the other email thread.

Email thread 2 / “Quantum advisory”

This thread is between me, Tim, and Alex woolanalex@gmail.com. This is the email address that our meeting (in Google Meet) was with.

From: William Entriken

Thank you for the call today. I appreciate you sharing your vision and thoughtful approach to launching new games with inspiration from web3 applications.

I am happy to set up advisory with you and Quantum.

For your reference, here is my intro page and advisory page.

Please let me know if you are thinking 10 or 20 hours per month and I can prepare the first invoice for you.

Also please let me know your available schedules that we might set up our weekly calls.

From: William Entriken

Hi Alex, would you please let me know your plans on this so I can do my next step here?

From: William Entriken

During my discussion with Alex on Jan 12 my understanding is that he is a principle in the organization and that my billing relationship would be set up directly with Alex and that he is doing business across UK and Dubai.

I am preparing my first invoice for the Quantum UK entity and do not see Alex listed as affiliated with this company.

Could you please provide Alex’s full name and clarify his affiliation with Quantum Limited. Also I am awaiting, please, answers on the questions above and have not received any response on email from Alex.

We are targeting a start date for next week, and I can turn this paperwork around quickly today.

… emails woolanalex@gmail.com are now bouncing.

From: Timothy Smith

Hey, Alex Woolan to be precise. I provided you with the codes; have you still not joined? When can you join us?

From: William Entriken

Thank you. I can join after the first monthly retainer is paid. And I’m still waiting on the details to prepare that.

From: William Entriken

I see that Alex’s email account is now gone.

If there’s a last chance on setting this up let’s go through with it and start properly.

From: Timothy Smith

yes, that’s actually true. His email got blocked due to suspicious activity as he told me. It might be because of sending documents too frequently.

We are currently in the midst of a busy phase in our project, gradually transitioning into the final stage. By the way, are you planning to join us? I’ll duplicate the access codes for you: You can find more information on our official website: https://quantumverse.world/. Access codes: Windows: MTRX-ADV1-JNS9 and MacOS: MTRX-ADV2-JNS9

From: William Entriken

Rest assured that I do have the access codes. What I am missing now is a paid invoice from Alex for starting the advisory.

At this point, I have no way to contact him and I don’t have his answers to my questions above.

From: Timothy Smith

We are willing to make an advance payment to your account on a contractual basis when you commence your trial period (1 week), after you are ready for consultation. It’s just that from our end, we are not yet convinced that everything will work, as you haven’t even connected to us yet.

From: William Entriken

We can do one more call as a trial up to one hour. This would be on Google Meet again. Alex indicated to me that he is the one to negotiate my engagement so I would need to see that he understands this plan before we schedule another call.

I have a separate computer here I’ll use for connecting on the software you mentioned. And I’ll format and setup that computer after advisory starts. It’s a MacBook Pro M1, which is compatible with the specs you gave me.

Contact accounts

Through the links they sent to me on email above, our meeting, and my own research I found that the following accounts/entities are claimed by Timothy Smith and Alex Woolan to be an associate, or an associate of the entities that they claimed.

🚨☢️ Consider these links as dangerous and I do not endorse them!

End result

All of the web pages mentioned above and X accounts are offline or banned by the service provide. Even the Bluesky account, which is possibly harder to get banned.

I did not install any software on my computers or other devices. I did not provide any personal information to these people. As far as I know I was not compromised in any way.

Discussion

I welcome your criticism and advice on all aspects here.

There are a lot of details above dancing around my due diligence of the company, setting up an agreement, talking about the product, and making meetings. However, the important part is the software. They are persistent in trying to get me to install software on my computer. This is the red flag.

See also:

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Comments

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Please discuss this topic anywhere and let me know any great comments or media coverage I should link here.