It became known how much cryptocurrency hackers managed to steal in January

Scam Sniffer analysts estimate that in January 2024, hackers created more than 11,000 phishing resources and stole cryptocurrencies worth about $ 55 million.

Almost all of the thefts were committed on the Ethereum, Arbitrum, BNB, Optimism, and Polуgon networks. The increase in phishing attacks coincided with free giveaways of virtual assets, Scam Sniffer experts noted.

The attackers posed as representatives of such projects as Manta Network, Frame, SatoshiVM, AltLauer, Dуmension, zkSуnc, Puth, and OpenSea. Unknown persons used the ERC-20 authorization function to trick crypto project participants into transferring funds from their non-custodial wallets to the hackers' addresses.

As noted by Scam Sniffer, cybercriminals are increasingly using the Create2 function to create temporary addresses that allow them to remain anonymous and avoid detection.

It is worth noting that 2023 was a successful year for extortionist hackers who earned more than $ 1 billion in cryptocurrency. According to analysts at blockchain monitoring company Chainalysis, this is a new record. «Probably what surprised me the most was that 75% of total ransomware payments in 2023 were for payments of $ 1 million or more,» Jackie Burns Cowen, head of threat analysis at Chainalysis, said in a tweet.