Here’s How Much Crypto Scammers Drained From Victims in January Alone
The top seven victims collectively lost $17 million due to phishing signatures like ERC20 Permit, Create2, increaseAllowance, and Swap.
According to Scam Sniffer, scammers stole $55 million worth of cryptocurrency in January alone and set up more than 11,000 phishing websites.
Notably, most of these thefts occurred on the Ethereum $ETH mainnet, with Arbitrum$ARB , BNB $BNB , Optimism, and Polygon closely behind.
Crypto Phishing Attacks Surged in January
In a recent Feb. 9 thread on X, Scam Sniffer highlighted a concerning trend observed in January, noting a surge in phishing attacks coinciding with heightened activity within crypto communities following a series of airdrops in the previous month.
These scams, often occurring alongside airdrops and other project activities, have impacted around 40,000 individuals.
According to Scam Sniffer, fraudsters created the phishing websites in January, impersonating various projects such as Manta Network, Frame, SatoshiVM, AltLayer, Dymension, zkSync, Pyth, OpenSea, Optimism, Blast, and others.
Their efforts proved successful, with the top seven victims losing $17 million in total owing to phishing signatures such as ERC20 Permit, Create2, increaseAllowance, and Swap.
Scam Sniffer reported that hackers commonly exploited the ERC-20 Permit function, tricking users into unknowingly transferring funds from their non-custodial wallets under the guise of legitimate operations.
Many individuals fell victim to these scams due to cybercriminals actively posting fake comments on various platforms, posing as legitimate projects like Optimism and zkSync.
Crypto Cyberattacks Hit $2 Billion in 2023
Throughout 2023, scammers and hackers executed numerous cyberattacks and rug pulls, resulting in the theft of $1.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency, as reported earlier by CryptoPotato.
