Cryptocurrency Users Beware: Etherscan Ads May Drain Your Wallet
Recently, a user on X (formerly known as Twitter) raised a red flag about the presence of potentially malicious phishing scam ads. These ads were found on Etherscan, a widely used blockchain explorer.
McBiblets cautioned that certain advertisements appearing on Etherscan could be designed to steal digital assets from unsuspecting wallets.
The Etherscan Scammer Holds Nearly $300,000 in Their WalletWeb3 security platform Scam Sniffer swiftly responded to the warning and launched an investigation. Shortly after that, Scam Sniffer confirmed the presence of a new scam through their official X account.
“Etherscan aggregates ads from platforms like Coinzilla & Persona, where insufficient filtering could lead to exposure to phishing attempts,” Scam Sniffer explained.
Renowned on-chain detective ZachXBT delved further. He disclosed that the phishing on Etherscan is linked to a draining service. Furthermore, ZachXBT revealed that the draining service had phished a six-figure sum from a victim.
Read more: Top Cryptocurrency Scams in 2024
ZachXBT also shared the address of the theft. When BeInCrypto tried to look up the on-chain data of the wallet flagged by ZachXBT, we found that it holds 87.08 Ethereum (ETH).
This amount is equivalent to approximately $298,972 at the time of writing. Additionally, the scammer holds other tokens and coins, including $25,375 worth of OPSEC, $9,642 worth of PEPE, and $4,207 worth of Ethena (ENA).
The Phishing Scammer’s Wallet Address and Balance. Source: Etherscan
The issue of phishing scams is familiar to the digital asset space. It remains an effective tactic that frequently targets the cryptocurrency and DeFi sectors. In a prior report, Scam Sniffer highlighted that Wallet Drainers, a specific type of malware targeting cryptocurrency holders, had amassed nearly $295 million in assets from about 324,000 victims.
On March 11, 2023, a phishing scam exploited fluctuations in USDC exchange rates and stole nearly $7 million. Victims were tricked by phishing websites masquerading as the trusted Circle platform. Significant thefts also occurred near March 24 when hackers compromised Arbitrum’s Discord, coinciding with the proximity of Arbitrum’s airdrop activity.
Read more: Crypto Social Media Scams: How to Stay Safe
Scam Sniffer highlights that Inferno Drainer is the most notorious of these malware programs. It has amassed over $81 million in stolen funds from 134,000 victims since March 2023. The report mentioned that phishing scams disguised as airdrops, organic traffic, paid advertisements, or hijacked Discord links are particularly insidious due to their difficulty in detection.
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