Decentraland

Funds lost to cryptocurrency phishing scams dropped in September, with roughly $46 million lost by 10,805 victims.
Data from Scam Sniffer show that crypto funds lost to phishing attacks in September saw a notable drop from the previous month, although the number of victims increased. In an Oct. 4 X thread, Scam Sniffer noted that nearly $46.7 million was stolen from 10,805 victims, down from the $63 million lost in August.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter">
 <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
 <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
 🚨 ScamSniffer September Phishing Report In September, around 10K victims lost approximately $46 million to crypto phishing scams. In Q3 2024, phishing losses totaled $127 million with an average of 11K victims per month. Two major victims accounted for $87 million. 💸 🧵 [1/8] <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://t.co/T2OpXQ8Cqb" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/T2OpXQ8Cqb</a>— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) <a href="https://twitter.com/realScamSniffer/status/1842114007286874199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">October 4, 2024</a>
 </blockquote>
 <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 </div>
</figure>
The majority of losses in September came from one individual who signed a malicious permit signature and lost 12,083 spWETH. A tactic that is often referred to as an approval phishing scam involves tricking a victim, often using fake applications, into signing a malicious blockchain transaction that transfers control of a user’s asset to the bad actors.
Further, Scam Sniffer analysts noted that in Q3, scammers managed to rake in $127 million in crypto assets by targeting an average of 11,000 victims monthly. Notably, just two victims accounted for $87 million in losses in the third quarter of 2024.
A separate report from blockchain security firm CertiK, <a href="https://crypto.news/phishing-attacks-private-key-leaks-resulted-in-668m-stolen-in-q3-certik/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">published</a> on Oct. 3, estimates Q3 losses from phishing attacks to have siphoned $343.1 million across 65 incidents. The report labeled phishing as the most damaging attack vector for the quarter. In August, analytics firm Chainalysis <a href="https://crypto.news/approval-phishing-scams-a-much-bigger-problem-than-first-thought/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">reported</a> over $2.7 billion as lost to such scams since 2021.
You might also like: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/phishing-attacks-private-key-leaks-resulted-in-668m-stolen-in-q3-certik/"> Phishing attacks, private key leaks resulted in $668m stolen in Q3: CertiK </a>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="x-remains-the-leading-platform-for-phishing-scammers">X remains the leading platform for phishing scammers</h2>
Meanwhile, Scam Sniffer pointed out that fake accounts X were the leading cause of how victims end up on phishing websites. <a href="https://crypto.news/scammers-target-google-ads-to-mimic-crypto-recovering-service/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Dubious Google ads</a> were the second most common hook.
Fake X accounts that impersonate legitimate crypto projects and personalities to make users click on malicious links have been plaguing the crypto sector since its inception. Back in January, cybersecurity firm SlowMist found that over <a href="https://crypto.news/slowmist-reports-80-of-x-comments-related-to-phishing-software/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">80% of comments</a> under posts from prominent crypto projects were scams.
In its August report, Scam Sniffer highlighted a noticeable drop in such accounts on X, applauding the social media platform’s team’s efforts to combat scams. Nevertheless, the Elon Musk-owned platform remains a hotbed of scams, and lately, several high-profile accounts have been compromised to promote elaborate phishing campaigns.
The latest attack <a href="https://crypto.news/openais-press-account-hacked-to-promote-phishing-scam-with-openai-token/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">targeted</a> ChatGPT developer OpenAI’s press account and promoted a phishing link under the guise of an airdrop for a made-up token dubbed OPENAI. Prior to that, the virtual reality-focused project Decentraland <a href="https://crypto.news/decentralands-x-account-hacked-scammers-push-fake-mana-airdrop/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">fell victim</a> to a similar incident.
Scam Sniffer urged users to be cautious and thoroughly check the links they click on the internet while emphasizing the importance of staying informed about increasingly sophisticated phishing schemes.
Read more: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/openais-press-account-hacked-to-promote-phishing-scam-with-openai-token/"> OpenAI’s press account hacked to promote phishing scam with OPENAI token </a>

Crypto phishing losses drop to $43m in September: Scam Sniffer

Table of Contents

crypto.news

Other articles published on Oct 4, 2024

Bitcoin Sees Largest Exchange Outflow Since November 2022: Bullish Sign!

Binance Labs’ Recent Investment: What is OpenEden?

Blockchain Life 2024 in Dubai: A Legendary Gathering of Market Insiders Ahead of the Bull Run.

XRP Price To Hit $5 Despite US SEC Appeal, Top Analyst Predicts

IMF Minta El Salvador Kaji Ulang Kebijakan Bitcoin Demi Stabilitas

3 Reasons Why Aptos (APT) in Spotlight Today

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!