WBTC Scammer Transfers $71 Million Loot Following Poisoning Fraud

The individual associated with a recent $71 million wallet phishing attack has finally begun transferring the funds to new addresses.

The scammer’s wallet remained inactive for the last six days after converting the stolen 1,155 WBTC into around 23,000 ETH.

Scammer Transfers Stolen Crypto

The bad actor stole Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on May 3 after creating a wallet address closely resembling the victim’s in an “address poisoning” scam. The address featured similar alphanumeric characters and executed a small transaction to the victim’s account.

Typically, like many investors, the victim validated the authenticity of the wallet address by confirming the matching first and last few characters, a common practice. However, the discrepancy in the middle characters, often obscured on platforms to enhance visual aesthetics, went unnoticed.

On May 8, blockchain investigation firm PeckShield observed suspicious activity involving the stolen funds. The scammer initiated a process of breaking down the looted assets into smaller portions and dispersing them across numerous crypto wallets. This tactic was directed towards diluting the stolen funds and obscuring their traceability.

#PeckShieldAlert #Layering The scammer who grabbed ~$71 million worth of $WBTC via a poisoning #scam has laundered the stolen funds (~23K $ETH) by sending and spreading them across a large number of wallets. https://t.co/Blnw5TMT99 pic.twitter.com/CATCb6t1LL

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) May 8, 2024

Approximately 400 crypto wallets were utilized by the scammer to distribute the funds across over 150 wallets. Despite the extensive effort to obfuscate the origin of the stolen funds, PeckShield’s investigation revealed that all the diverted assets can still be traced back to the unidentified scammer as of the current moment.

Crypto Scams Declined in April

The FBI’s 2023 Internet crime report highlighted a concerning rise in cryptocurrency-related scams, resulting in investors losing $3.94 billion last year. This represents over three-quarters of total losses from investment scams during the period.

Meanwhile, April saw a major decrease in crypto losses from hacks and scams. Crypto losses from hacks and scams hit a record low for the month, with only $25.7 million lost, marking the lowest figure since 2021.

The report attributes the 141% decline in losses primarily due to the absence of private key compromises. There were 11 attacks targeting protocols via private key compromises in March, whereas April witnessed only three such incidents.

Of the $25.7 million total losses reported for April, $21 million was due to exploits, with only three breaches surpassing $1 million in damages each. Flash loan attacks accounted for $129,000 in losses, with the largest incident causing $55,000 in damages, the lowest incidence of flash loan attacks since February 2022.