Phishing Scams Surge Across Blockchain Networks, Crypto Hack Thefts Decline in March
Summary:
Base, Ethereum's layer 2, reported crypto funds lost to phishing scams of around $3.35 million in March, an 18-fold increase from January figures. Data compiled by Scam Sniffer showed similar surges across other chains, taking total losses to $71.5 million across 77,529 victims. While phishing losses are up, crypto hack thefts dropped 48% to $187.2 million in March, with $98.8 million recovered throughout the month, largely due to the $97 million Munchibles exploit.
In recent data, Base, the Ethereum layer 2, experienced a surge in cryptocurrency funds lost to phishing scams in March by 18 times compared to January. Scam Sniffer, a blockchain anti-scam platform, estimates that phishing fraudsters netted around $3.35 million on Base in March. This figure reveals a 334% rise month-on-month from a total of $773,900 in February and a staggering increase of 1,880% compared to January's $169,000 loss due to phishing frauds, based on Scam Sniffer's compilation of Dune Analytics' monthly data.
In line with Base, Binance's BNB Chain also saw a strong push in phishing scams in March, as outlined in an April 2 post by Scam Sniffer. Across all chains, nearly $71.5 million was plundered by phishing fraudsters from 77,529 victims, outpacing the losses of $58.3 million in January and $46.8 million in February. Scam Sniffer highlighted that creating phishing links from counterfeit X accounts remains a primary strategy used by phishers, with over 1,500 incidents detected in March.
Simultaneously, Base's phishing scams have increased with the recent memecoin frenzy on the chain supported by Coinbase. This has thrust Base's total locked value over $3.2 billion, reflecting a 370% increase thus far in 2024, as per L2BEAT. Scam Sniffer was approached by Cointelegraph for a comment.
Despite the upward trend in phishing scams, there's been a fall in crypto hack thefts by 48% to $187.2 million in March, reported PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, in an April 1 post. This total includes the $98.8 million recuperated throughout the month, with nearly all of the recoveries deriving from the $97 million Munchibles exploit. Cryptocurrency investigator ZachXBT joined as a custodian to assist in reclaiming the stolen funds.
In other news, Curio's MakerDAO-based smart contract reportedly lost $40 million, based on updates from Peckhield, while Prisma Finance suffered an $11.6 million hack. Presently, the company is in discussions with the hacker on-chain aiming to retrieve the funds.
Published At
4/2/2024 8:04:48 AM
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