Among the latest news, the case of Australia emerges, with the Federal Police investigating at least 2,000 crypto wallets victims of fraud. The case follows Chainalysis’ Operation Spincaster, which discovered that these crypto-wallets are affected by “approval phishing” tactics.
Australia news and Chainalysis: at least 2000 crypto wallets affected by “approval phishing” scams
According to what reported, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) stated that, in collaboration with Chainlaysis, it has identified more than 2,000 crypto wallets victims of scams.
In practice, through the joint activity of Chainalysis called Operazione Spincaster, the APF has stated that such compromised crypto wallets are victims of the approval phishing scam technique.
With “approval phishing”, criminals manage to deceive victims into signing a malicious blockchain transaction. Once signed, the criminal has access to the victim’s crypto wallet and can spend their specific tokens, even going so far as to completely empty their balance.
Obviously, this work has also seen the collaboration of other platforms, such as the crypto-exchanges of BTC Markets, Binance, Crypto.com, Ebonex, Independent Reserve, OKX, SwyftX, and Wayex. These platforms have committed to providing support to identify Australian victims and to prevent ongoing monetary losses in Australia.
In this regard, the superintendent of the AFP, Tim Stainton, stated the following:
“Working together and sharing knowledge with industry, government, and law enforcement partners is essential. The intelligence we gathered in collaboration during Operation Spincaster has shed a clear light on the new tactics used by cybercriminals in their ongoing efforts to defraud Australians.”
Australia news: the collaboration with Chainalysis reveals 2000 crypto wallet truffati
Also Phil Larratt, director of investigations at Chainalysis, has released his own statement on the matter:
“The results of Operation Spincaster are lasting and create a positive impact in addressing a growing threat to the community. There is still much to be done in this relentless fight against scams, but proactive initiatives like Operation Spincaster, where we bring together key stakeholders across the ecosystem as a collective, are a crucial step in disrupting the global epidemic of scams. We look forward to continuing to succeed with these sprints and doing our part in providing agencies in Australia and around the world with the tools and expertise needed for this journey”.
In any case, the Federal Police of Australia informs what are the guidelines to avoid falling into the trap of approval phishing.
Among other things, skepticism is mentioned that users should have in the face of urgent requests for money or personal information. Users must verify approval transactions before signing them, and they should not sign without having full trust in the person or company on the other side.
To perform these checks, AFP cites search engines and social media to understand the person’s background and ensure that their identity matches their online presence.
The approval phishing: the reports by Chainalisys
In the December 2023 report, Chainalysis highlighted how the approval phishing scam technique has exploded among cybercriminals, managing to steal large sums of money.
For example, only in 2023, hackers would have executed crypto thefts worth at least 374 million dollars.
The success of this crypto scam technique has been attributed to the fact that many dApps enabled for smart contracts require users to sign approval transactions to move the funds in their possession.
In this regard, Eric Jardine, Cybercrime Research Lead at Chainalysis, had commented stating that scammers take advantage of these growing dApps to get users who have become accustomed to sign their harmful transactions.