In February, crypto phishers managed to steal a staggering $47 million, primarily through fake accounts on Elon Musk‘s social media platform X. These scams, related to Bitcoin, Dogecoin DOGE/USD, Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, and other cryptocurrencies, resulted in over 57,000 victims falling prey to these schemes.
What Happened: The majority of victims were drawn to phishing websites through comments made by impersonator accounts on X, reported Coin Telegraph on Tuesday, citing a report by Scam Sniffer.
The report also highlighted that the Ethereum mainnet accounted for 78% of the total thefts, with ERC-20 tokens being the primary assets stolen, making up 86% of all assets stolen.
Most of the Ethereum token thefts were due to users signing phishing signatures and transaction approvals, such as Permit, IncreaseAllowance, and Uniswap Permit2. The report also noted that most wallet drainers have now started using account abstraction wallets as token approval spenders, enabling more functionality and smart contract compatibility for Ethereum wallets.
Despite a higher number of phishing victims compared to January, February saw a reduction in the total amount stolen. The month also witnessed a significant drop in the number of victims who lost over $1 million.
Scammers often target social media accounts of high-profile figures, sometimes replying to posts with a fake account designed to mimic the genuine one or even hacking an account to post phishing links. In February, MicroStrategy‘s X account was hacked, leading to around $440,000 in crypto being stolen. Other victims included Compound Finance, Rocket Pool, Blockchain Capital, and even Vitalik Buterin.
Why It Matters: The cryptocurrency community has been hit with a staggering $104 million in losses due to phishing incidents in the first two months of 2024, with the majority of the victims being Ethereum users, who accounted for $78 million of the losses.
Phishing incidents involve users being deceived into revealing their private keys or other sensitive information, which cybercriminals then use to access and drain their cryptocurrency wallets. Ethereum users were particularly targeted, with the majority of the losses involving ether and ERC20 tokens.
Meanwhile, in 2023, the U.S. witnessed a staggering 53% increase in losses from cryptocurrency investment scams, reaching a total of $3.94 billion. The report also highlighted that the overall investment frauds saw a 38% increase, reaching $4.57 billion from $3.31 billion. The majority of these frauds were cryptocurrency scams, emphasizing the significant role that digital currency has in online crime.
Earlier in January, an investigation into copyright violations by the German state of Saxony led to the uncovering of 50,000 Bitcoin BTC/USD acquired using the proceeds of pirated works. The German authorities announced the seizure of almost 50,000 Bitcoins equivalent to around $2.1 billion after an investigation by Saxony prosecutors, Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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