In 2024, the most common attack vector in the crypto space was pig butchering frauds. This resulted in millions of dollars in losses to investors.
Data from the annual report of web3’s security firm Cyver shows that scammers have managed to defraud crypto users this year out $3.6 billion. The attacks span over 150,000 address and 800,000 transaction.
This number is significant but represents a small drop in the losses from last year when approximately $3.96 Billion was lost through similar scams.
What is pig butchering fraud?
Pig butchering schemes are often long-term scams that use sophisticated social engineering techniques. They thrive off emotional manipulation, false credibility and promises of large returns. This makes them among the most pernicious threats to cryptocurrency.
It is a term that comes from the practice where pigs are fattened before being slaughtered, much like how fraudsters build rapport and trust with their victims over weeks or months.
The fraudsters use different methods to approach their victims.
They may pose as romantic partners, financial advisors or even as financial advisers to lure victims into making crypto investments they know are not safe.
The victims are often led to fake platforms, where they see dashboards with manipulated returns that encourage investment and gain trust.
After the victim has invested all the money, the scammer will disappear with it, leaving the victims little recourse, and in many cases, no way of recovering their losses.
In a surprising turn of events, last month the Federal Bureau of Investigation was able to recover $8,3 million in connection with a scheme to butcher pigs.
In this case, the former CEO of Heartland Tri-State Bank misappropriated nearly $47.1 million from customers’ funds. This led to the collapse of the bank.
Authorities around the world have intensified their efforts to identify and disrupt these large-scale criminal networks.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria has arrested 792 suspected suspects for allegedly orchestrating scams related to pig butchering.
The rise of cyber attacks
The cryptocurrency industry is plagued by a variety of different threats. Pig butchering scams, for example, are just the tip of the spear.
According to the Cyvers report, hacking attempts against the industry have increased by 40% since last year. Access control vulnerabilities and smart contracts are the main culprits.
A separate report by security company Hacken highlights the same trend as ICD.
The centralized financial sector is the worst affected. Private key compromises, weak access control, and private key compromises are the primary vulnerabilities that contributed to 75% all exploits by 2024.
Phishing attacks are another constant threat for crypto users.
Cryptocurrencies are digital in nature and all transactions take place online. This makes the entire ecosystem highly susceptible to cyber-attacks.
The complexity and stealth of this attack, despite the fact that such losses are steadily decreasing over the last few months makes it one of the most common weapons in crypto scammers’ arsenal.
On December 26, for example, scammers exploited Google ads to spread crypto-stealing phishing Scripts and mimicked the Pugy Penguins Project website while hosting malicious content on the Adloox domain.
The post Crypto scams involving pig butchering cost $3.6 billion to users in 2018 may be updated as new information becomes available.
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