Crypto Drainer Scam Lures Unwitting Users into Giving Away their Funds

Modus operandi

• Recorded Future researchers reveal that the scam leverages ready-to-go crypto drainer phishing pages that are advertised on a top-tier dark web forum. 
• These phishing pages purport to mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and use third-party services and applications (such as MetaMask) that are common in the crypto sphere. 
• Once an unsuspecting user opens the phishing page, it effectively steals crypto assets from compromised wallets.

Notable facts

• Since their first appearance in 2022, crypto drainer phishing pages have surged in popularity and will likely remain relevant in 2023.
• The popularity is largely due to the scripts that are easy to deploy and cheap to acquire.
• Moreover, the use of legitimate services on crypto drainer phishing pages may increase the likelihood that these pages will pass an otherwise savvy user’s ‘scam litmus test’.

Cryptocurrency cybercrime is booming

• According to research from Chainalysis, 2022 was the biggest year ever for crypto hacking, with $3.8 billion stolen from cryptocurrency businesses. 
• During the month of October alone, there were 32 separate attacks, with losses totaling $775.7 million.
• The trend of hacking DeFi protocol also intensified in 2022, with around  82% of cryptocurrency funds stolen being collected from the platforms using the protocol.

The bottom line