Iterskan ads behind a massive phishing campaign
Several ads on the Ethereum blockchain explorer have been identified as part of a major phishing campaign actively targeting Ethereum users.
On April 8, X community member McBiblets identified some ads on Etherscan as wallet scams and warned users not to be redirected to phishing websites when clicking on such ads.
Further investigation revealed that the phishing ads displayed on Etherscan were also displayed on various known phishing websites.
Taking McBiblets' lead, Web3's anti-fraud platform Scam Sniffer found that phishing ads have spread beyond Etherscan and are appearing on popular search engines such as Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, as well as social media platform X.
Fraud Sniffer suspects a lack of monitoring from ad aggregators is the root cause of widespread phishing campaigns:
“Etherscan aggregates ads from platforms like Coinzilla and Persona, inadequate filtering can lead to exposure to phishing attempts.”
The wallet scam involves luring users to fake websites and asking them to link their crypto wallets. Once connected, the fraudster can withdraw funds to their private wallet address without user authentication or permission.
23pds, chief information security officer of blockchain security firm SlowMist, also warned about phishing ads on Etherscan:
“Beware, there are phishing ads on etherscan.”
A well-known and experienced cyber-phishing company, Angel Drenner, is suspected of conducting the ongoing phishing campaign against Eterscan users. However, concrete evidence regarding the identity of the fraudsters has not been identified till the time of writing.
Read Cointelegraph's guide to learn more about phishing attacks and how to prevent them.
Related: Crypto Phishing Attacks Reach ‘Exciting Levels' – CertiK Co-Founder
In the year In 2023 alone, crypto phishing scams robbed more than 324,000 victims of nearly $300 million in wallet drains.
Scam Sniffer also reports that even when the sewers are closed, “phishing groups” take their business elsewhere, due to the lack of platforms for scammers.
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