Phishing scam causes trader to suffer a loss exceeding $674K
An unfortunate incident occurred in the market when an unidentified individual fell victim to a phishing scam, resulting in a significant loss of over $674,000 in USDC. This deceitful scheme has been on the rise, causing concern among market participants.
The incident was brought to light by PeckShield, a blockchain security platform, in a recent post on X. They analyzed on-chain data from Ethereum blockchain explorer Etherscan to identify the fraudulent activity.
The perpetrators managed to drain 674,962 USDC from the victim’s wallets and transferred them to two different addresses. One address received 607,527 USDC, while the other received 67,435 USDC, specifically identified as a phishing address.
After receiving the 607,527 USDC, the first address moved the funds to Ox, a blockchain-based protocol that facilitates peer-to-peer exchange of digital assets. The scammers then converted the USDC to 160.32 Ethereum tokens and transferred 159 ETH to a Zerion wallet.
Interestingly, the scammers have been targeting the victim’s address since March 1, continuously invoking smart contract functions to transfer assets to addresses under their control. The first transaction involved 35.44 AstraAI tokens worth $98.18. This was followed by over 400 similar transactions executed in the past five days.
While the $647,000 transfer was the largest, the scammers have not stopped there. The victim’s address continues to transfer assets to the phishing wallet. They recently transferred 691,333 NOIA Tokens valued at $163,378.
To put a stop to this constant diversion of funds, the victim must revoke any permissions granted to the perpetrators. It is worth noting that the crypto community has witnessed an increase in phishing scams, with malicious actors developing more sophisticated tools to target unsuspecting investors.
Some of these scams involve compromised social media accounts of reputable individuals and fake emails. In one case, victims lost $440,000 in an airdrop scam after the exploiters used a compromised MicroStrategy X account to promote the scheme.
Last year, the prevalence of phishing scams resulted in a loss of over $300 million and affected up to 320,000 users, according to on-chain security resource Scam Sniffer.
As the market continues to face these challenges, it is crucial for participants to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions to protect themselves from such fraudulent activities.
