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Crypto Scams: “Pig Butchering” Schemes Stole $3.6 Billion in 2024
According to a report by Web3 security company Cyvers, crypto scams resulted in significant losses for users in 2024, with “pig butchering” schemes being the most prominent threat. These scams, which involve scammers grooming victims through repeated contact before swindling them out of large sums of money, cost users a whopping $3.6 billion.
Rise in Cyber Attacks
The report indicates a 40% annual rise in the number of cyber attacks in 2024 compared to 2023, with 165 incidents resulting in $2.3 billion in damages. Although this figure is down 37% from the peak in 2022, complex schemes and breaches surged in 2024.
Access control breaches accounted for the majority of the damage, with 67 incidents totaling $1.9 billion. Other notable attack vectors included smart contract vulnerabilities, leading to losses of $456.8 million over 98 incidents, and address poisoning assaults, resulting in $68.7 million in a single major case.
Ethereum: The Most Targeted Blockchain
Ethereum was the blockchain network most affected by crypto scams, accounting for the majority of losses. The data involved around 150,000 addresses and 800,000 fraudulent activity transactions. Cyvers attributed the ease of access to the blockchain as a key factor in the fraudulent schemes, allowing scammers to send over 100,000 small inducement payments to victims as part of their grooming methods.
What is “Pig Butchering”?
“Pig butchering” refers to a technique in which victims are groomed through repeated contact by scammers, often starting with unsolicited messages that draw them into fake crypto schemes.
With trust secured, the way is open for deploying smaller amounts of cash to siphon off larger pots in the hundreds of millions, often in Tether (USDT) through less transparent exchanges.
Notable Attacks in 2024
Some of the most significant attacks in 2024 include:
- WazirX, which lost $235 million on a vulnerability in its multi-sig wallet system.
- DMM Exchange, which was hacked and lost $305 million when attackers compromised a private key in the platform’s Bitcoin hot wallet.
- Radiant Capital, which lost $50 million after hackers compromised the devices used to access the platform.
- BingX, which was drained of $52 million worth of funds when attackers accessed the exchange’s hot wallets and transferred funds across multiple networks.
Recovery Efforts
Despite these significant losses, some progress was made in the rehabilitation effort. In 2024, approximately $1.3 billion was returned to victims, primarily through on-chain detectives and bug bounty programs.
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