Monkey Drainer Steals $1M Worth of Crypto in Elaborate Phishing Attack

A phishing scammer who goes by the name – Monkey Drainer – has reportedly stolen 700 ETH worth over $1 million, as per on-chain sleuth ‘ZachXBT.’

The two largest victims – 0x02a and 0x626 – collectively lost $370k after signing transactions on malicious phishing sites operated by the perpetrator.

• One of the victims, 0x02a, reportedly lost 1 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, 1 CloneX, 36,000 USDC, and 12 other non-fungible tokens (NFT) totaling around $150,000.
• The other one, 0x626, held more than $6.2 million worth of crypto but ended up losing only $220k because they rejected the other transaction requests, added ZachXBT.
• Over the past couple of weeks, Monkey Drainer has managed to scam multiple users. The researcher detailed that the total amount stolen in the scam surpasses $3.5 million and is on a rapid increase.
• So far, the fraudulent entity has been active for a few months, during which they executed over 7,300 transactions.

“Please be extra diligent before visiting unknown sites, connecting your wallet, and signing transactions.”

• ZachXBT accused popular crypto influencer Lark Davis of shilled low-cap projects such as – SHOPX, BMI, PMON, XED, and APY – before dumping them on unsuspecting members of the community. In doing so, he reportedly raked in $1 million.
• 2022 has been a tough year for the crypto market, but that hasn’t deterred the crypto-focused phishing attacks across social media sites.
• Social media channels – Discord, Telegram, and Twitter – have emerged as a huge hunting ground for crypto scammers.
• During the second quarter, the blockchain analysis firm CertiK recorded 290 phishing attacks, up 170% from 106 in the first quarter.
• More recently, hackers targeted several FTX users in such an attack and managed to drain $1.26 million worth of cryptocurrencies.