Angel Drainer, a notorious drainer-as-a-service program, reportedly suspended its operations within hours of cybersecurity researchers at Match Systems claiming to have de-anonymized its members.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, July 16, the Dubai-based blockchain forensics firm Match Systems announced that Angel Drainer’s Telegram channel stated the malware had ceased operations.
Angel Drainer is a JavaScript-based malware used by cybercriminals to drain cryptocurrency wallets. It executes phishing scams to trick users into granting token approvals, allowing scammers to steal their assets.
The malware gained notoriety in early 2024 when blockchain security firm Blockaid warned of a new attack vector introduced by Angel Drainer. This vector uses a protocol to execute an approval farming attack through the queueWithdrawal mechanism.
In February, Blockaid estimated that Angel Drainer had stolen over $25 million worth of cryptocurrency from nearly 35,000 wallets, implicating it in high-profile incidents like the Ledger Connect Kit and Restake Farming attacks.
Match Systems had earlier posted that it was
“working on investigating the thefts involving Angel Drainer and have already made progress in identifying the individuals behind this group.”
However, whether the firm has reported the culprits to law enforcement remains unclear.
“We continue to accumulate data and work to identify the remaining identities involved in this criminal gang.”
the firm stated in its latest post.
Notably, the first half of 2024 saw a notable surge in profitability for malicious actors, especially with the increasing number of cryptocurrency phishing scams. According to blockchain research firm Scam Sniffer, these scams have collectively syphoned over $314 million worth of cryptocurrency, marking a 6.44% increase from the previous year. Among these incidents, $58 million was attributed to just 20 high-profile targets, including one victim who suffered an $11 million loss — the second-largest individual crypto theft on record.
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