Phishing scammers have amassed more than $300 million from various EVM chains, targeting approximately 260,000 victims, according to data compiled by Scam Sniffer.
The first half of 2024 proved highly lucrative for these scammers, who pilfered $314 million worth of cryptocurrency. This figure represents a 6.44% increase compared to the previous year, as reported by blockchain research firm Scam Sniffer.
In a detailed disclosure, the firm outlined that out of the total amount, approximately $58 million worth of crypto was siphoned from just 20 victims. Notably, one victim alone lost $11 million, marking the second-largest theft in crypto history. Scam Sniffer noted that scammers typically exploit phishing techniques such as Permit, IncreaseAllowance, and Uniswap Permit2 to gain control over victims’ assets without requiring additional permissions.
Victims are often ensnared by phishing comments originating from spoofed accounts on social media platforms. Once redirected to fraudulent websites, victims are deceived into executing seemingly legitimate transactions from their non-custodial wallets, unwittingly granting unauthorized access to their funds.
Earlier this year, SlowMist, the parent company of Scam Sniffer, reported freezing about $20.66 million in stolen funds across 13 platforms during Q2. The incident underscored the prevalent vulnerabilities of private key leakage, phishing, and fraud within the cryptocurrency industry.
Meanwhile, a new menace is on the rise in the crypto sphere, as revealed in Bitget’s latest findings. Crypto fraud associated with deepfake technology has resulted in losses exceeding $79.1 billion since 2022, with a staggering 245% surge in 2024 alone. Despite global efforts to combat this threat, Bitget warns that quarterly losses attributed to deepfake scams could reach approximately $10 billion by 2025. The exchange further anticipates that total losses for 2024 will likely surpass $25.13 billion from such criminal activities.
For more details, read: Report: Hackers stole $176.2m in crypto in June