Pink Drainer Cryptocurrency Hack: $4.4 Million Stolen from One Victim – The Notorious Group Strikes Again!
- Pink Drainer has once again attempted to steal $4.4 million in Chainlink (LINK) from a single victim, leveraging phishing and an “approval boost” feature.
- The group’s exploits perpetrated hacks on Discord and Twitter and impersonated cryptocurrency journalists, causing a staggering total of $18.7 million in damage across 9,068 victims.
Known as a notorious hacking group “Pink Drainer” has made headlines once again after robbing one victim of $4.4 million worth of Chainlink (LINK). This latest exploit tricked victims into granting the “increase approval” feature, resulting in the transfer of a whopping 275,700 links, now worth $4.33 million, in two quick transactions within a minute.
Another victim lost $4.4 million worth of LINK to a phishing scam about two hours ago. https://t.co/B4Z3yWrH7e https://t.co/6n6m0lZQK4 pic.twitter.com/6zSWTp8G6d
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Scam Prevention (@realScamSniffer) December 29, 2023
The unauthorized transfers routed 68,925 LINKs to a wallet labeled “PinkDrainer: Wallet 2,” and an additional 206,775 LINKs were moved to addresses ending in “E70e.”
Blockchain security company scam sniffer It confirmed Pink Drainer’s involvement in the recent breach, but expressed uncertainty about victims’ interactions with the phishing website. Specifically, Scam Sniffer has identified at least 10 scam sites linked to Pink Drainer in the past 24 hours, suggesting a campaign of fraudulent activity is underway.
According to Scam Sniffer’s analysis, this attack appears to be targeting victims who hold significant amounts of cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, blockchain investigator ZachXBT highlighted that the stolen funds were converted to Ether and are currently being laundered through “instant cryptocurrency exchange” eXch.
The Pink Drainer’s notoriety does not end there. Over the past year, the group has been involved in a variety of Discord and Twitter hacks targeting platforms such as Evomos and Pika Protocol, as well as high-profile figures such as OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and Orbiter Finance.
In addition to these violations, Pink Drainer has previously been implicated in scams impersonating cryptocurrency journalists. An investigation by Scam Sniffer earlier this year found that approximately $3 million had been stolen from approximately 1,932 victims.
As of December 19, their malicious activities have escalated, with 9,068 victims stealing a whopping $18.7 million, according to Dune Analytics.
Pink Drainer’s Tactics and Influence Revealed
Urges increased vigilance as cryptocurrency hacking continues
Pink Drainer’s recent hack represents an ongoing threat to the cryptocurrency community and highlights the urgent need for increased vigilance and stringent security measures against evolving hacking techniques.
This year has seen a steady stream of hacks from Pink Drainer, targeting unsuspecting victims through a variety of deceptive tactics. The surprising success in exploiting vulnerabilities and manipulating users into compromising situations highlights the ever-present dangers lurking in the cryptocurrency space.
Also read: $2 billion lost in 2023 due to cryptocurrency scams and hacks