In 2023, financial assets were removed from a cryptocurrency "whale" due to a phishing attack, where the victim authorized transactions allowing the attacker to access their financial resources.
The joint account involved in the September 2023 phishing incident transferred $10 million worth of Ether to the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash.
On March 21, blockchain security firm CertiK identified an account involved in the hack for $24 million, which sent 3,700 ETH to Tornado Cash. These funds were taken from the cryptocurrency whale during the phishing incident on September 6, 2023.
At that time, an investor lost $24 million in staked ETH through the Rocket Pool liquidity staking service. The attack occurred in two phases: the first removed 9,579 stETH, while the second took away 4,851 rETH from the crypto whale.
The Scam Sniffer project, dedicated to fraud detection, stated that the victim authorized an "Increase Allowance" transaction, enabling the hacker to approve tokens for their own use. Using smart contracts, this functionality allows third parties to spend ERC-20 tokens owned by others with their consent.
The topic of token approvals sparked much discussion in the crypto community, with some warning of the risks associated with potentially deploying malicious smart contracts for fraudulent purposes.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield recorded that the attacker converted assets into 13,785 ETH and 1.64 million Dai. Some of these DAI were transferred to the FixedFload exchange, while the rest of the stolen funds were moved to other wallets.
Phishing attacks remain a significant problem for the crypto sector. A report from the Scam Sniffer project showed that nearly $47 million was lost in February due to phishing-related scams.Â
The report emphasized that 78% of these thefts occurred on the Ethereum network, with ERC-20 tokens accounting for 86% of all stolen funds.Â
Recent losses caused by token approvals have also raised concerns among cryptocurrency users. On March 20, an old contract previously used by the Dolomite exchange was exploited to drain $1.8 million from users.
The exploitation affected users who had given consent to the contract. As a result, Dolomite developers urged users to revoke all consents granted to the old contract address.
Although some attempts to defraud cryptocurrencies result in the loss of millions, there are cases where fraudulent efforts are quickly detected and thwarted. For example, on March 20, the Layerswap team managed to prevent further damages after their website was compromised by an attack, thanks to the quick response from the domain provider.
However, hackers were still able to siphon off assets worth $100,000 from approximately 50 users. Layerswap announced that they would refund the lost funds to affected users and offer additional compensation for the inconvenience caused.
These incidents highlight the persistent risk of phishing attacks and the need for constant vigilance in the crypto world. The abuse of token approval functions and smart contracts underscores the need for further education and caution among cryptocurrency users to prevent unnecessary losses.
With the increasing number of sophisticated attacks, it is important for cryptocurrency users to be vigilant and thoroughly verify all transactions and contract approvals. The community and security firms must collaborate to develop better tools and procedures to protect against phishing attacks and other fraudulent activities, ensuring a safer environment for all cryptocurrency users.
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