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Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Wallet-drainer phishing attacks stole an estimated $494 million in cryptocurrency in 2024, according to Scam Sniffer figures reported by SecurityWeek and BleepingComputer in January 2025. That is the basis for the rounded “$500 million” headline. These attacks typically trick people into signing a transaction or approving token access; merely connecting a wallet does not, by itself, mean its assets have been drained.
What the 2024 loss estimate counts
The $494 million figure is Scam Sniffer’s estimate for losses from wallet-drainer phishing attacks during 2024, as reported by SecurityWeek and BleepingComputer in 2025. Scam Sniffer reported that losses rose 67% year over year. That increase refers to the value stolen, not to the number of people or wallet addresses affected.
SecurityWeek reported more than 332,000 drained addresses; BleepingComputer described the count as more than 300,000. The underlying report’s definition of an address versus a victim is not established in the available reporting, so the count should not be read as a tally of unique people. The reported largest single theft was about $55.4 million (also reported as $55.48 million). Scam Sniffer also counted 30 incidents above $1 million, totaling $171 million; those incidents are part of, not additional to, the overall estimate.
These figures describe wallet-drainer attacks, not all cryptocurrency theft, exchange breaches, or broader crypto crime. Other reported measurements cover different things and should not be added to the annual loss estimate.
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How a wallet drainer gets a victim to authorize theft
A wallet drainer is a toolkit used to persuade someone to approve an action that gives an attacker a way to move assets. It may be delivered through a phishing page, a compromised legitimate website, or a fraudulent app. The common thread is not simply a wallet connection: the consequential step is signing a transaction, granting token-spending permission, or approving another action with harmful effects.
Campaigns have promoted fake token airdrops through social media or email, including posts from compromised verified accounts. A visitor might be sent to an imitation site and asked to connect a wallet and sign a request presented as a token claim or Web3 service. Scam Sniffer’s 2024 trend reporting also noted fake CAPTCHA or Cloudflare pages, IPFS hosting, ad traffic, and Permit or setOwner signatures. These are reported patterns, not steps every campaign uses.
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How the attack routes differ
| Delivery route | What the victim may encounter | How assets can be put at risk | Evidence and limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phishing page | A fake airdrop or service page that asks the visitor to connect a wallet and sign. | The signature may authorize a token allowance, a Permit action, an ownership change, or another transaction. | Scam Sniffer’s 2024 trends describe several such lures and signature patterns; they do not apply to every attack. |
| Compromised website | A wallet-connection popup injected into an otherwise legitimate site. | A misleading prompt can ask the visitor to authorize an asset transfer. | GoDaddy’s 2025 report on 2024 detections describes injected drainer code on compromised sites. A familiar domain alone cannot establish that a wallet prompt is safe. |
| Fraudulent mobile app | An app imitating a recognizable wallet-related brand, potentially supported by fake reviews. | In a Check Point Research case, a fake WalletConnect-branded Android app tricked users into approving a token allowance; the operator later used TransferFrom to move tokens. | That case involved a thin client loading remotely controlled malicious functionality and code researchers identified as MS Drainer. Its measurements apply to that app, not to all drainers. |
The routes can also differ in the assets and chains affected and in whether the user is trying to prevent a bad signature or contain damage after approving one. A wallet prompt’s appearance or branding does not reveal what its authorization permits; inspect the requested action itself.
How to reduce the chance of approving a drainer
- Navigate to the project’s verified official site yourself. Avoid relying on a social-media post or advertisement as the route to an airdrop or wallet action.
- Read the wallet request before signing. Check whether it is a transaction, token-spending approval, Permit signature, ownership change, or another authorization. Do not sign if you cannot understand what it permits.
- Check app provenance, not just its name or reviews. Confirm the publisher through the project’s verified channels; familiar branding, search placement, and positive-looking reviews are not proof that an app is genuine.
- Take wallet phishing or malicious-transaction warnings seriously. Use the warnings available in your wallet, but do not treat their absence as proof that a request is safe.
- Revoke a suspicious token approval using trusted tooling for the relevant chain. Review what permission is being removed and use a route you can independently verify.
What to do if you suspect your wallet was exposed
- Stop using the affected wallet for new activity. Check its existing approvals: an unrevoked token allowance may allow a later transfer, including after additional assets arrive.
- Revoke the dangerous permission or move assets to a newly created wallet. Check Point Research advises not to resume using the affected wallet until permissions have been revoked or assets moved.
- Contact the relevant wallet provider or exchange through a verified channel. Do not trust unsolicited messages or recovery services merely because they claim they can retrieve stolen funds.
Why other reported counts are not comparable to the $494 million
Check Point Research reported one fake Android app with more than 10,000 downloads, over 150 victim addresses, and estimated losses exceeding $70,000. The app remained available for nearly five months. These numbers describe that individual case, not the annual scale of all wallet-drainer activity.
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Separately, GoDaddy’s 2025 website-security report counted 23,372 infected websites with Web3 crypto-drainer malware detected during 2024. That is a detection count—not a count of victims or proof that every detected site caused a loss. The app-case figures, infected-site detections, drained-address estimates, and dollar-loss estimates measure different things.
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