Crypto Phishing Scams Are Increasing, Ethereum Users Most at Risk
Phishing scams in crypto are growing fast. These scams often trick users with fake links or transactions that don’t do what they promise.
According to Scam Sniffer’s August report:
- Users lost over $12 million in phishing scams last month.
- Losses jumped 72% higher than in July.
- About 15,230 people were affected, up 67%.
The most common scams were:
- EIP-7702 batch-signature scams (tricking users into approving many transactions at once).
- Direct transfers to fake phishing wallets.
Three large investors (“whales”) lost $5.62 million, almost half of the total stolen. Even holders of World Liberty Financial tokens were targeted, forcing the platform to blacklist some wallets for safety.
These scams work by abusing features designed to make Ethereum transactions easier. Sadly, criminals use them to drain wallets once users approve the wrong action. Many in the Ethereum community had warned this might happen after the Pectra upgrade, but most regular users still don’t know the risks.
Even so, phishing scams are not the biggest problem. Exploits—direct attacks on crypto platforms—caused much larger losses. In August alone, 16 exploits stole $163 million, which is 15% more than July.
