Phishing scams dominate August’s $300M crypto losses

Blockchain security firm CertiK reported that crypto projects were exploited for a total of $310 million in August, the second-highest monthly total this year.

The firm noted that $10.3 million of the stolen assets were recovered or returned, reducing the net loss to $300.6 million.

It stated:

“Combining all the incidents in August we’ve confirmed ~$300.6 million lost to exploits, hacks and scams after ~$10.3 million was returned. The amount is the second highest monthly loss so far in 2024.”

Phishing attacks lead to significant losses

According to CertiK’s data, phishing incidents accounted for the largest share of losses, totaling approximately $293 million.

From just two incidents, one victim lost $238 million worth of Bitcoin, while another lost $55 million in DAI stablecoin.

Market observers noted that these incidents show that phishing scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attacks. Typically, phishing scams involve the impersonation of legitimate entities to steal sensitive data and gain access to their victims’ crypto wallets.

So, blockchain security firms like Halborn have urged the community to implement wallet security best practices, such as carefully validating the content of any transaction before signing it.

Other significant attacks on crypto projects

Beyond phishing, several crypto projects also faced considerable losses. Notable incidents include attacks on Ronin Network, Nexera, and Convergence.

On Aug. 6, a white hat hacker exploited Ronin Network, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-based sidechain, for 4,000 ETH, valued at $9.85 million at the time.

Meanwhile, flash loan attacks also remained a concern, though August losses totaled $1.2 million, lower than in July.

Last month, the VOW token was exploited for $1.2 million due to an error in its exchange rate to vUSD. The attacker took advantage of the exchange rate being set from 1 to 100, acquiring vUSD at 100 times its actual value.

Meanwhile, exit scams significantly declined, dropping to $800,000 in August from roughly $3 million in July.

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