Nearly $300,000,000 in Losses Recorded in 2023 Due to Crypto Phishing Scams, According to Cybersecurity Firm

Crypto phishing scams facilitated the theft of more than $295 million worth of assets in 2023, according to the cybersecurity firm Scam Sniffer.

In a new analysis, Scam Sniffer notes that phishing websites employ a type of crypto-malware known as “wallet drainers” that trick victims into greenlighting malicious transactions.

Roughly 324,000 crypto holders fell victim to wallet drainers last year, according to the firm.

Wallet drainers looted nearly $7 million on March 11th alone, with scam artists impersonating stablecoin issuer Circle amid fluctuations in the price of USDC.

The largest single wallet drainer, Inferno Drainer, stole $81 million in nine months across 2023, according to the security firm.

Scam Sniffer notes that these phishing websites direct traffic to their sites through multiple methods, including: hacking official X and Discord pages, attacking official project frontends, airdropping tokens, taking over expired Discord links, spam mentions and comments on X and paying for search advertisements on Google and X.

Explains the firm,

“Although hacking attacks have a broad impact, the community often reacts promptly, typically within 10-50 minutes. However, airdrops, organic traffic, paid advertising, and taken-over Discord links are much less noticeable. In addition, there are more targeted personal private message phishing [attacks].”

Read Scam Sniffer’s full analysis here.

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