In 2024, crypto losses of $3.6 billion were attributed to pig butchering scams. most significant fraud scheme A report by web3’s security firm Cyvers says that the worst cyberattacks of the year have been identified.
In 2024, the long-term scam, in which victims are encouraged to invest over a period of time, will be more popular than other crypto scams. The report showed that $3.6 Billion in stolen funds could be traced back to the Ethereum blockchain (ETH).
Pig butchering is on the increase
Over 150,000 addresses were tracked and 800 000 transactions associated with pig butchering schemes, showing the extent of the scam. scale of the problem. The FBI released a report that estimates $3.96 billion of losses due to pig butchering in 2023.
The report also highlighted scammers’ increasing sophistication. It noted that many victims had been lured via dating apps and platforms on social media. Scammers built trust with victims over weeks and months by creating fake profiles. They then convinced them to invest in fraudulent crypto platforms which appeared legitimate.
Cyvers, in response to an increase in pig-butchering scams and the need for increased user education as well as enhanced wallet security, recommended stricter regulation of crypto platforms. The firm also stressed the importance of advanced threat detection and real-time monitoring systems in order to minimize potential losses.
Cyber-threats and recovery
Cyber-threats increased by 40% in the year 2024. The result was $2.3 billion worth of losses spread across 165 incidents. Overall losses remained 37% below 2022 despite the increase.
Scammers targeted Ethereum the most, with access controls breaches causing $1.9 billion worth of losses over 67 incidents. Smart contract exploits were responsible for $456.8 millions, and a single incident of address poisoning resulted in $68.7million in stolen funds.
In the fight against fraud, $1.3 billion was recovered this year thanks to ZachXBT on-chain investigators and bug bounty programs.
In the first three months of 2018, 53 incidents were recorded. The third quarter saw the highest financial losses, with $760 million.
The most significant incidents were a breach of DMM Exchange worth $305,000,000 due to the compromise of a private key. Another $235,000,000 was lost by WazirX because they had a vulnerability with their multi-signature wallet. BingX, on the other hand, suffered losses totaling $52,000,000 after a hot wallet attack.
According to the Cyvers report, access control incidents accounted for 81% of total losses even though they only constituted 41.6% all reported cases.
