Recent data shows that Ethereum layer 2 Base has experienced a significant increase in cryptocurrency funds stolen from phishing scams in March compared to January. According to Scam Sniffer, a blockchain anti-scam platform, approximately $3.35 million was stolen from phishing scammers on Base in March alone. This marks a 334% month-on-month increase from February’s tally of $773,900 and a massive 1,880% spike compared to January, when Base only lost $169,000 from phishing scams. Binance’s BNB Chain also observed a similar surge in phishing scams in March.
In total, about $71.5 million was lost to phishing scammers across all chains from 77,529 victims, surpassing the tallies of $58.3 million in January and $46.8 million in February. Scam Sniffer highlighted that phishing links from fake X accounts remain a “primary tactic,” with over 1,500 incidents detected in March.
The rise in Base phishing scams coincides with the recent craze around memecoins on the Coinbase-backed chain, which has contributed to Base’s total value locked surpassing $3.2 billion, a 370% increase in 2024 according to L2BEAT. Cointelegraph reached out to Scam Sniffer for comment.
Despite the increase in phishing scams, crypto hack thefts actually decreased by 48% to $187.2 million in March, as reported by blockchain security firm PeckShield. This figure takes into account the $98.8 million that was recovered during the month, mostly from the $97 million Munchibles exploit. Notably, cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT was involved in the recovery efforts as a custodian.
However, there were still some notable hack losses in March. Curio’s MakerDAO-based smart contract lost $40 million, and Prisma Finance fell victim to an $11.6 million hack. Prisma Finance is currently negotiating with the hacker on-chain to recover the stolen funds.
In response to these challenges, a team of white hats called ‘SEAL 911’ has been formed to fight crypto hacks in real time.