ScamSniffer just reported that a well-known crypto whale has lost over $32 million worth of tokens after falling for a malicious transaction.
The breach targeted the whale’s wallet through Spark’s DeFi platform, leading to the theft of 12.083 wrapped ether tokens.
Inferno Drainer, the mastermind behind the attack
Those stolen tokens are worth about $32.4 million now. This attack is linked to a fraudulent operation called Inferno Drainer, which has been behind many attacks on crypto users across various networks.
Arkham Intelligence has identified the wallet as possibly belonging to Shixing Mao, aka Discus Fish, a co-founder of F2Pool and Cobo. But keep in mind, Arkham’s AI identification isn’t very confident about this.
Even after losing such a massive amount, the wallet still holds cryptocurrencies valued at around $5.44 million.
The CZSamSun-connection, another whale in the picture?
The Inferno Drainer group takes 20% commission on stolen funds. They initially shut down their operation in November last year but made a comeback in May 2024 with claims of new employees, better support, and updated functions. This makes them even more dangerous than before.
Crypto investigator ZachXBT pointed out that the wallet owner has been involved in several large transactions with another popular account.
According to him, both the wallet owner and an entity found on DeBank named ‘czsamsun’ have moved nine-figure sums between each other, suggesting they might be connected.
“The victim and czsamsun on DeBank have done nine figures in transfers with each other, so it seems likely it’s the same entity.”
After the attack, the victim’s wallet received a message offering a 20% reward for returning the stolen funds.
Rising threat of phishing scams
This incident raised alarms in the DeFi community and is a reminder for everyone to be careful with unfamiliar transactions.
Blockchain analytics firms warned users on X about phishing scams and how to avoid becoming victims.
“To avoid being phished, please do not click on any unknown links and do not sign any unknown signatures.”
The Inferno Drainer scam is just one example of the growing number of phishing schemes targeting DeFi participants.
Earlier this year, another phishing platform called Pink Drainer shut down after stealing $75 million from nearly 20,000 victims.
Losses from phishing scams in cryptocurrency hit over $173 million in just the first quarter of the year alone. The FBI has also flagged this rising threat, revealing that phishing losses exceeded $9.6 million in 2023.
