Crypto Sleuth Unmasks Phishing Wallet That Has Drained Over $10M In Crypto & NFTs

Updated: 18 April 2023

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Notorious hackers and scammers appear relentless in attacking the crypto community. In record-breaking, a crypto detective has revealed an anonymous phishing wallet, which has drained over 5,000 ETH or $10 million at current crypto prices, from various crypto investors in the past five months.

Phishing Wallet Has Drained $10M In NFTs Since Dec 2022

In an April 18 blog post, Tay, an on-chain crypto sleuth and a builder at MetaMask protocol, has unmasked a massive wallet-draining operation. The malicious scam syndicate seems huge, and it has claimed more than 5,000 ETH or $10 million in crypto and NFTs since December 2022.

For the past 48hrs I've been unwinding a massive wallet draining operation 😳😭

I don't know how big it is but since Dec 2022 it's drained 5000+ ETH and ??? in tokens / NFTs / coins across 11+ chains.

Its rekt my friends & OGs who are reasonably secure.

No one knows how. pic.twitter.com/MafntG7RkP

— Tay 💖 (@tayvano_) April 18, 2023

Tay has noted that the drainer wallet is not a low-brow phishing site or a random scammer and has not focused on single non-fungible token holders. Instead, they have majored in corporate and high-stake investors across eleven blockchains.

The theft and post-theft on-chain movement is VERY distinct. It's incredible. If you've been drained by this attacker you will gasp as you read this. If you don't gasp, this isn't your thief, sorry.

1. Primary theft txns are almost always between 10am–4pm UTC. pic.twitter.com/O7Ph1dkK94

— Tay 💖 (@tayvano_) April 18, 2023

Based on light investigations, the private keys of the suspicious wallets were created between 2014 and 2022. The scammers conducted the attacks almost always between 10 am and 4 pm. Scammers stole those who are more crypto-native, like multiple addresses and those who work in space.

Crypto & NFT Scams On The Rise In 2023

Crypto and NFT scams have been on the in recent weeks. The recent reports from Crystal Blockchain confirmed that hackers had stolen $119 million in crypto in 19 breaches so far in 2023. This year’s biggest crypto hack was Bonq DAO, a decentralized borrowing protocol that claimed to lose over $88 million in February.

Kevin Rose, the non-fungible token (NFT) investor and the founder of the popular Moonbirds NFT collection, also suffered a phishing attack earlier this year. Rose lost more than $1 million in crypto and NFTs.

I was just hacked, stay tuned for details – please avoid buying any squiggles until we get them flagged (just lost 25) + a few other NFTs (an autoglyph) …

— Kevin Rose (@kevinrose) January 25, 2023