Crypto phishing scams facilitated the theft of more than $295 million worth of assets in 2023, according to the cybersecurity firm Scam Sniffer.

In a new analysis, Scam Sniffer notes that phishing websites employ a type of crypto-malware known as “wallet drainers” that trick victims into greenlighting malicious transactions.

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Roughly 324,000 crypto holders fell victim to wallet drainers last year, according to the firm.

Wallet drainers looted nearly $7 million on March 11th alone, with scam artists impersonating stablecoin issuer Circle amid fluctuations in the price of USDC.

The largest single wallet drainer, Inferno Drainer, stole $81 million in nine months across 2023, according to the security firm.

Source: ScamSniffer

Scam Sniffer notes that these phishing websites direct traffic to their sites through multiple methods, including: hacking official X and Discord pages, attacking official project frontends, airdropping tokens, taking over expired Discord links, spam mentions and comments on X and paying for search advertisements on Google and X.

Explains the firm,

“Although hacking attacks have a broad impact, the community often reacts promptly, typically within 10-50 minutes. However, airdrops, organic traffic, paid advertising, and taken-over Discord links are much less noticeable. In addition, there are more targeted personal private message phishing [attacks].”

Read Scam Sniffer’s full analysis here.