According to data from Scam Sniffer, crypto funds lost to phishing attacks in September significantly decreased compared to the previous month despite a rise in the number of victims.
In a series of X posts published on October 4, the blockchain forensics platform reported that approximately $46.7 million was stolen from 10,805 victims, a noticeable drop from the $63 million lost in August.
The bulk of September’s losses stemmed from a single individual who fell victim to a malicious permit signature, resulting in a loss of 12,083 spWETH. This incident is an example of a common tactic known as approval phishing, where scammers deceive victims—often through fake applications—into signing a malicious blockchain transaction that grants control of their assets to the perpetrators.
Scam Sniffer also reported that in Q3, scammers amassed $127 million in cryptocurrency by targeting an average of 11,000 victims each month. Interestingly, just two victims were responsible for $87 million of the total losses during this period.
This report follows a recent report from blockchain security firm CertiK, which estimated that phishing attacks resulted in losses of $343.1 million across 65 incidents in Q3, marking phishing as the most destructive attack vector for the quarter.
Meanwhile, Scam Sniffer highlighted that fake accounts on X (formerly Twitter) were the primary method through which victims were lured to phishing websites while misleading Google ads were the second most prevalent tactic. These fraudulent X accounts impersonate legitimate crypto projects and personalities, enticing users to click on malicious links. This issue has been a persistent problem in the crypto sector. A January report from cybersecurity firm SlowMist revealed that over 80% of comments on posts from major crypto projects were scams.
Scam Sniffer urged users to exercise caution and carefully verify links before clicking, highlighting the need to stay informed about the evolving sophistication of phishing schemes.
In a related development, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis announced plans to expand its anti-phishing initiative, “Operation Spincaster,” to more countries in the coming months. The firm outlined the outcomes of the initiative’s initial phase and expressed its commitment to supporting the cryptocurrency ecosystem in combating illicit activity.
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