Phishing Scams Up 1,900% From January – Scam Sniffer
Ethereum's Layer 2 base reported an 18-fold increase in cryptocurrency funds stolen from phishing scams in March compared to January's figures.
According to blockchain anti-fraud platform Fraud Sniffer, nearly $3.35 million was stolen from phishing scams in March alone.
Monthly Dune Analytics data compiled by Scam Sniffer shows $773,900 in February and a whopping 1,880% increase compared to January, representing a 334% month-over-month increase.
Binance's BNB Smart Chain saw similar phishing scams in March, Scam Sniffer said in an April 2 X post.
An estimated $71.5 million was lost to all chain phishing scams from 77,529 victims — compared to $58.3 million and $46.8 million for January and February, respectively.
Scam Sniffer revealed that phishing links from fake X accounts were the “primary method” of finding more than 1,500 incidents in March.
The rise in Base phishing scams comes amid the recent memecoin craze on the Coinbase-backed chain. It's helped push the base's total value to more than $3.2 billion — a 370% increase so far in 2024, according to L2Beat.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Scam Sniffer for comment.
Phishing scams may be up, but hacks are down
The increase comes despite crypto hack thefts falling 48% to $187.2 million in March, according to data posted by blockchain security firm PeckShield on April 1.
Related: Crypto Hacking Losses Decrease in Q1 2024 – Immunefi
The figure takes into account the $98.8 million earned in the month.
Almost all of those recoveries came from the $97 million Munchibles exploits. Cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT is one of those on board as a guardian to recover the stolen funds.
Meanwhile, Curio's MakerDAO-based smart contract has lost $40 million, with updated data from PeckShield and Prisma Finance indicating that they were victims of a $11.6 million hack. The company is currently negotiating on-chain with the hacker to return those funds.
Magazine: ‘SEAL 911' White Hat Team Formed To Fight Crypto Hackers In Real Time
