Crypto Thefts on Coinbase’s Base Chain Rose by 145% in April

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As a researcher with a background in blockchain security, I find the recent increase in crypto thefts on Coinbase’s Base chain alarming. According to data from Scam Sniffer, there was a significant surge in scam activity on Base in April, resulting in about $170,000 lost to phishing scams. This represents an approximately 1,900% increase in scammer activity since January.

Based on information from the real-time anti-scam platform Scam Sniffer, there has been a significant surge of crypto thefts on Coinbase’s Base chain over the past month. Specifically, there was a noticeable rise of 145% in scam incidents reported during April.

Thefts Increased on Base

As a crypto investor, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the latest developments in the industry, and one thread that caught my attention was the April Phishing Report posted by Scam Sniffer on platform X. In the second post of the thread, the team at Scam Sniffer shared some concerning news about the Base chain. Although there was an overall reduction in thefts across the sector, the Base chain unfortunately saw a significant increase in hacking incidents compared to the previous month. Two of the top 10 largest single thefts during April took place on the Base chain, accounting for no less than 21% of the total thefts recorded that month. These statistics serve as a reminder of the importance of staying informed and vigilant when investing in cryptocurrencies.

As a researcher studying the trends at Base, I’ve observed a staggering 1,900% surge in scammer activities since the beginning of this year. Regrettably, this escalation has led to approximately $170,000 being extracted from unsuspecting victims through phishing schemes.

As an analyst, I’ve reviewed the latest report from our anti-scam intelligence platform. In April, a total of 34,619 victims fell prey to scams, resulting in a significant loss of over $38.6 million. This represents a substantial decrease of 46% compared to the numbers from March. Notably, ERC20 tokens accounted for 88% of all assets stolen during this period. The primary sources of these thefts were phishing signatures such as Uniswap Permit2, IncreaseAllowance, and Permit. Scammers have been observed to favor deceiving individuals through the creation of fraudulent Twitter accounts and misleading comments.

Cautioning users to stay alert, the platform draws attention to the existence of wallet drainers – deceitful malware programs engineered to swiftly empty wallets following unlawful entry. Regrettably, despite heightened phishing warnings for recognized signatures, the Phishing Report indicates that wallet drainers have devised methods to bypass these alerts.

One of the most significant cyberattacks in recent times is the Hedgey Finance incident, resulting in a loss of approximately $47 million, primarily ARB tokens being taken and transferred to Bybit exchange by an unidentified attacker. Another major security breach occurred at Fix Float, leading to a crypto token loss of around $3 million, with investigations pointing towards a third-party service as the possible culprit. Additionally, Grand Base reported a hack resulting in a theft of approximately $2.67 million worth of digital assets.

Q1 Thefts

As a researcher studying the blockchain security landscape, I’ve come across CertiK’s Hack3d report for Q1 2024. This authoritative source reveals that a staggering 223 exploits occurred during this period, leading to over $502 million in crypto assets being pilfered. To put it into perspective, the total amount stolen in Q1 2023 was just $326 million. Hence, we’re witnessing a significant surge of 54% compared to the previous year.

As a researcher studying cryptocurrency security, I discovered that January saw a significant surge in on-chain exploits, resulting in a total loss of approximately $193 million in crypto assets across 78 incidents. The leading cause of these losses was compromised private keys, which accounted for $239 million lost through 26 separate incidents. Code vulnerabilities contributed to $42.6 million in losses for 47 different cases, while 34 exit scams led to a loss of $68.3 million in crypto assets. A noteworthy observation from this quarter was the return of over $779 million worth of crypto assets by hackers, primarily due to the Munchables incident.

In the previous year, according to a study conducted by Immunefi, a security platform specializing in blockchain, cybercriminals and hackers succeeded in stealing approximately $1.8 billion. The research attributed around 17% of these losses to Lazarus Group, which is believed to be connected to North Korea.

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2024-05-06 18:39