Impersonators on X responsible for $47M cryptocurrency theft in the previous month

The prevalence of fake accounts on social media platform X was responsible for more than 57,000 individuals falling victim to crypto phishing scams in February.
According to the latest report on crypto phishing by Scam Sniffer, a total of $46.8 million was lost to crypto phishing scams last month. The report highlighted that the majority of victims were enticed to phishing websites through fraudulent comments made by impersonated Twitter accounts.
Scam Sniffer also discovered that the Ethereum mainnet accounted for 78% of the total amount stolen, with ERC-20 tokens being the primary assets targeted, making up 86% of all stolen assets.
The report revealed that most Ethereum token thefts occurred as a result of users signing phishing signatures and transaction approvals, such as Permit, IncreaseAllowance, and Uniswap Permit2. Furthermore, it noted that wallet drainers have now begun to utilize account abstraction wallets as token approval spenders.
Account abstraction allows for greater functionality and compatibility with smart contracts for Ethereum wallets.
Despite an increase in the number of phishing victims compared to January, the total amount stolen in February was lower than in the previous month. Additionally, February saw a significant decrease in the number of victims who lost over $1 million.
Scammers often target the social media accounts of prominent individuals, sometimes replying to posts with a fake account that closely resembles the genuine one, or even hacking into an account to share phishing links.
In February, the X account of MicroStrategy was hacked, resulting in approximately $440,000 worth of crypto being stolen.
Furthermore, Compound Finance, Rocket Pool, Blockchain Capital, and even Vitalik Buterin have all had their X accounts compromised in recent months by crypto phishers.
In December, Cointelegraph reported on the increasing trend of crypto scammers utilizing “approval phishing” methods to steal funds. This attack method tricks victims into signing transactions that grant scammers access to their wallets, enabling them to drain the funds.
A recent report by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation suggested that Millennials are the most susceptible group to investment fraud.
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