Kaspersky Lab detected 200 000 phishing attacks in the crypto sector since the start of 2022

More often, attackers created fake exchange websites and malicious files that mimic wallets for storing digital assets

19.06.2022 - 06:30

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What’s new? In the first five months of 2022, Kaspersky Lab products prevented around 200 000 phishing attacks in the cryptocurrency sphere. 50 000 of those were in April alone. Most often, attackers created fake exchange websites and malicious files that mimic crypto wallets. According to a Kaspersky Lab report, criminals exploited Binance in 75% of cases, Electrum in 10%, and MetaMask in 9%.

Kaspersky Lab’s report

What else did the report say? The company noted that sometimes a phishing link may display an “error” message after entering the seed phrase. And in some cases, the fake resource even redirects the user to the real website to confuse them. Victims usually do not realize straight away that they have fallen victim to scammers. Alexey Marchenko, head of Content Filtering Methods Research at Kaspersky Lab, explained:

“They [criminals] are often successful due to a user’s inattention and lack of awareness. Hence, users need to be wary of basic scamming indicators: offers that are too generous, proposals from unknown senders as well as requests for money with the promise of future profit.”

Trojan downloaders were the most commonly spread through phishing, as well as bankers, spyware, and ransomware.

In June, cybersecurity company Halborn reported that crypto wallets MetaMask and Phantom fixed a critical vulnerability in a browser software extension. A bug that was discovered back in September 2021, allowed hackers to extract seed phrases from users’ computers.

The US Federal Trade Commission reportedthat crypto scammers earned more than $1 billion in 2021. About 46 000 people were affected by the activities of criminals. The most popular currencies among crypto scammers became bitcoin, Tether, and Ethereum.

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