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An unsuspecting cryptocurrency owner has reportedly become a victim of a staggering $4.46 million phishing scam.
Data from Etherscan indicates that $4.46 million worth of Tether (USDT) was taken from a Kraken cryptocurrency exchange wallet and subsequently transferred to an address concluding with “ACa7.”
The blockchain security company PeckShield has identified this address as belonging to a phishing scammer.
#PeckShieldAlert The address 0x2175…f7D9 was scammed out of 4.46M $USDT
Victim’s address: 0x2175c0082d052872501f7fe54e1aC59858aaf7D9
Scammer’s address: 0xAbb07822F471773Ff00b9444308ceEB7cf0dACa7 pic.twitter.com/Ny9CIrkBxw— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) September 21, 2023
Another blockchain scam monitoring platform, Scam Sniffer, suggested on September 20 that the funds were transferred to an address associated with a “fraudulent Coinone crypto mining exchange.”
someone withdrew $4.46 million from Kraken to a fake Coinone crypto-mining exchange about 1 hour ago.https://t.co/ued55jlWdM pic.twitter.com/tsV5BGDY0O
— Scam Sniffer (@realScamSniffer) September 20, 2023
Scam Sniffer referenced a user-generated Dune Analytics dashboard, indicating that scams of this nature have led to approximately $337.1 million in USDT being stolen, affecting as many as 21,953 victims.
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Tayvano’s Dune Analytics dashboard on USDT Approval Scams. Source: Dune Analytics.
Related: Crypto whale loses $24M in staked Ethereum to phishing attack
The Global Anti-Scam Organisation states that this kind of approval mining scam typically deceives victims into permitting unlimited withdrawals from their cryptocurrency wallets.
“When you establish a self-custody crypto wallet […] you acquire a ‘private key’ that is protected through encryption. However, the scammers do not require your seed phrase,” GASO explained on its website, noting that when a victim opts to join the fraudulent mining pool, they are engaging with a button that will request a $10–$50 network fee in Ether (ETH).
While this may appear reasonable, GASO warns that it is a trick:
“This is simply a facade to obtain your digitally signed authorization, granting unlimited access to your wallet via the USDT smart contract.”
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