Crypto scammers stole nearly $60m from 20 victims in H1 2024, data shows

Phishing scammers made over $300 million across EVM chains by targeting around 260,000 victims, data compiled by Scam Sniffer shows.

The first half of 2024 was yet another profitable period for phishing scammers as they stole $314 million worth of crypto, marking a 6.44% increase compared to 2023, according to data gathered by blockchain research firm Scam Sniffer.

In an X thread, the firm detailed that out of the sum, around $58 million worth of crypto was drained from 20 victims alone, with one victim losing $11 million, becoming the second-largest theft victim in crypto history. Scam Sniffer says scammers typically target victims by exploiting phishing signatures such as Permit, IncreaseAllowance, and Uniswap Permit2, which allow them to gain control over the victim’s assets without further permissions.

“Most of the large thefts involved assets in Staking, Restaking, Aave Collateral, and Pendle tokens.” Scam Sniffer

Victims are often lured through phishing comments from impersonated accounts on X. Once on the phishing site, they are tricked into making seemingly legitimate transactions from their non-custodial wallets, resulting in unauthorized fund access.

Earlier in July, Scam Sniffer’s parent company SlowMist reported freezing approximately $20.66 million in stolen funds across 13 platforms in Q2, highlighting private key leakage, phishing, and fraud as major vulnerabilities in the industry.

In the meantime, a new threat seems to be emerging in the crypto space as Bitget’s latest report reveals that deepfake-related crypto fraud has led to losses exceeding $79.1 billion since 2022, with a staggering 245% increase in 2024 alone. Despite international efforts to combat this issue, quarterly losses from deepfake use could reach “around $10 billion by 2025,” the exchange warns. Bitget also predicts that 2024 will likely conclude with $25.13 billion in losses from such crimes.