User loses $32M in phishing attack

A user fell victim to a sophisticated phishing attack on September 27, 2024, losing $32 million worth of Spark Wrapped Ethereum tokens (spWETH).

According to security firm CertiK, the attack targeted a wallet ending in “e57” and drained 12,083 spWETH tokens.

The majority of the stolen assets, approximately 10,000 spWETH valued at $26 million, were transferred to a wallet beginning with “0x471c.”

The remaining funds were split between four other wallets.

CertiK reports that 1,750 Ether (CRYPTO:ETH) was sent to a wallet starting with “0x105c,” 2,613 ETH to “0x278d,” 3,730 ETH to “0x408d,” and around 1,865 ETH to “0xfaf2.”

Data from Arkham Intelligence suggests the compromised wallet may be linked to F2Pool founder Shixing Mao, though this has not yet been confirmed.

According to Scam Sniffer, phishing attacks surged by 215% in August 2024.

The firm’s report highlights that these attacks resulted in total losses exceeding $66 million for the month.

One wallet lost $55 million in a single phishing attack, indicating the severity of the rise in crypto-related fraud.

Further complicating matters, a September report from Blockaid warned that a notorious phishing software called Angel Drainer has been upgraded to AngelX, making it more dangerous.

This new version can deploy hundreds of phishing decentralised applications (DApps) within days.

It also targets blockchain networks like The Open Network and Tron, using a control panel that allows attackers to customize phishing scams.

In another disturbing development, Scam Sniffer noted that search engines, including DuckDuckGo, unknowingly displayed fraudulent Etherscan sites that led to compromised MetaMask wallets when users connected to them, further expanding the threat of phishing in the crypto space.

At the time of reporting, the Ethereum (ETH) price was $2,659.49.