Q3 of 2024 saw the theft of over $127 million in cryptocurrencies from investors due to phishing attacks, with September alone losing approximately $46 million.
A phishing attack affected approximately 10,800 victims in September, according to Scam Sniffer, a security firm affiliated with Web3.
The largest loss was reported on September 28, when a phishing attack utilized a permit phishing signature to siphon 12,083 spWETH, valued at $32.43 million.
In phishing attacks, fraudsters deceive investors into connecting their crypto wallets, such as MetaMask, to fraudulent services.
By connecting crypto wallets to fraudulent websites, scammers can withdraw users’ crypto without requiring additional authentication.
Phishing attacks target Ethereum Investors
According to Scam Sniffer, Ether was the most frequently targeted for crypto phishing attacks. Polygon MATIC, BNB, and Optimism are other notable cryptocurrencies lost to phishing schemes.
In Q3 2024, a cumulative loss of $87 million resulted from two significant phishing attacks. Clicking on phishing links from fake accounts on X, followed by Google phishing ads, is the primary phishing method, according to MistTrack, a crypto monitoring and compliance platform.
Given the increasing apprehension regarding spoofing attacks, it is advised that investors verify the URLs of websites and email addresses to ensure that they are the official channels of communication.
Crypto breaches were $753 million In Q3 2024
Conversely, the aggregate losses from all crypto breaches exceeded $753 million in Q3 2024.
CertiK, a cybersecurity firm, reported on October 1 that the total financial damage increased by approximately 9.5%, with $753 million stolen from investors across 155 incidents.
The Ethereum network experienced the highest number of security incidents, with 86 breaches, scams, and exploits that resulted in over $387 million, similar to phishing.
According to the report, compared to the 14.4% return in the previous quarter, only 4.1% of misappropriated assets were recovered.
