As a seasoned analyst with over two decades of experience in cybersecurity and digital finance, I’ve seen my fair share of scams, but the “pig butchering” phenomenon that swept through the crypto world in 2024 was something truly unprecedented. The sheer scale of these fraudulent activities, costing a staggering $3.6 billion, left even the most hardened experts in disbelief.
2024 saw “pig butchering” frauds emerge as the most significant threat to cryptocurrency users, resulting in losses amounting to approximately $3.6 billion, as reported by Cyvers, a firm specializing in Web3 security.
2024 saw a substantial increase of 40% in cyber attacks compared to the previous year, with a staggering 165 incidents costing approximately $2.3 billion in damages. Despite this figure still being 37% lower than the fraud peak in 2022, intricate schemes and breaches have significantly risen this year. As an investor in the crypto space, this trend underscores the importance of prioritizing security measures to protect my assets.
The majority of the reported damage was due to unauthorized access, with 67 instances causing a total loss of approximately $1.9 billion. Additionally, weaknesses in smart contracts resulted in losses amounting to $456.8 million across 98 occurrences, and a single major case of address poisoning led to losses of $68.7 million. These types of attacks reveal vulnerabilities in blockchain networks and decentralized applications that are still being exploited by fraudsters.
As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed that Ethereum (ETH) has unfortunately been a popular platform for scammers, with the majority of cryptocurrency fraud losses being reported on this network. According to Cyvers, this involves approximately 150,000 addresses and 800,000 suspicious transactions. The ease of access on the Ethereum blockchain is cited as a significant factor, enabling scammers to send out more than 100,000 small inducements to potential victims as part of their manipulative tactics.
2024 witnessed a significant shock in the crypto sphere with pig butchering scams, duping countless victims out of an astounding $3.6 billion, primarily on Ethereum. You can learn more about this at @nairametrics:
— 🚨 Cyvers Alerts 🚨 (@CyversAlerts) December 27, 2024
As a crypto investor, I firmly believe that it’s crucial for platforms like mine to educate users about security incidents related to access control breaches. This transparency is key in our collective fight against such breaches. Moreover, increasing the openness of exchange operations and encouraging user vigilance can significantly decrease the success rate of these types of frauds.
What does Pig butchering mean?
As a crypto investor, I’ve come across the term “Pig butchering” which is a manipulative tactic used by scammers. They initially approach potential victims with unsolicited messages, luring them into fake cryptocurrency ventures. Once trust is established, smaller amounts of money are gradually drained to eventually siphon off larger sums in the hundreds of millions, often using Tether (USDT) on less transparent platforms such as Binance, HTX, OKX, Crypto.com, and Coinbase. The illicit funds are typically laundered through both decentralized and centralized exchanges before they are converted into cash.
Crypto scams on the rise
2024’s significant cyber attacks featured an incident with WazirX, where they suffered a loss of approximately $235 million due to a flaw in their multi-signature wallet security system, making it one of the year’s biggest heists.
🚨ATTENTION🚨 Dear WazirXIndia, our system has flagged several questionable transactions connected to your Ethereum Multisig wallet. It appears that approximately $234.9 million of your funds have been transferred to a new address, with each transaction being funded by Tornado Cash. These transactions are under suspicion…
— 🚨 Cyvers Alerts 🚨 (@CyversAlerts) July 18, 2024
DMM Exchange suffered a major security breach, with hackers stealing approximately $305 million after gaining access to a private key in the platform’s Bitcoin (BTC) hot wallet. This incident added to the list of significant cyber attacks in the industry. Furthermore, the devices used to manage the platform were also compromised, leading to a $50 million loss for Radiant Capital. Meanwhile, BingX was hit with a theft of around $52 million, as attackers managed to get into the exchange’s hot wallets and move funds across various networks. These events underscore the persistent security risks facing many cryptocurrency exchanges.
Recovery
Despite the significant setbacks encountered throughout 2024, my research indicates that progress was indeed made in our rehabilitation efforts. Notably, around $1.3 billion was successfully returned to victims during this period. This recovery can be attributed mainly to on-chain investigators such as ZachXBT and bug bounty programs.
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2024-12-27 10:22