$32 Million Worth of Tokens Lost: Crypto Whale Falls Victim of Scam

Blockchain security service ScamSniffer has announced that a crypto whale lost $32 million worth of tokens after performing a malicious transaction.

The loss was reportedly in the form of wrapped Ether tokens obtained from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Spark. The 12,083 spWETH tokens withdrawn from the wallet correspond to approximately $32.4 million in current market value. According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, the malicious transaction was carried out by a scam service called Inferno Drainer. Inferno Drainer targets users with fake versions of popular DeFi apps in an attempt to take control of their wallets. According to a Dune Analytics dashboard created by ScamSniffer, the scam network stole more than $215 million from more than 200,000 victims. Inferno operators allegedly received a 20% commission on the stolen tokens. The service was initially shut down in November 2023, but was reactivated in May of this year. The scam service reportedly targeted 28 different blockchains and hundreds of DeFi apps.

Crypto Detective ZachXBT Is On The Case

The identity of the missing person has not yet been confirmed, but blockchain detective ZachXBT has identified transactions that link the wallet to a whale named CZSamSun. This whale is not to be confused with @samczsun, a researcher at venture capital firm Paradigm. ZachXBT’s posts about the incident have attracted attention.

A blockchain message sent from the victim’s wallet claimed to offer a 20% reward for returning the funds, but there has been no response from the alleged scammer.