Pig slaughter scams led to $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency losses in 2024, rising because the yr's most vital fraud scheme, in accordance with a report by safety agency Web3 Cyvers.
The long-term fraud technique, the place victims are groomed over time to make vital investments, surpassed different types of crypto fraud in 2024. The report highlighted that $3.6 billion in stolen funds had been traced to the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain alone.
Pig slaughter on the rise
Cyvers tracked greater than 150,000 addresses and 800,000 transactions linked to pig slaughter fraud, illustrating the dimensions of the issue. The report follows an announcement by the FBI that estimates losses of $3.96 billion from hog slaughter schemes in 2023.
The report additionally highlighted the evolving sophistication of scammers, noting that many victims had been lured in by relationship apps and social media platforms. Fraudsters created faux profiles, constructed belief over weeks or months, and satisfied victims to spend money on fraudulent crypto platforms that appeared legit.
In response to the rise in pig slaughter scams, Cyvers advisable elevated person schooling, improved pockets safety measures, and stricter laws for crypto platforms. The corporate additionally emphasised the significance of real-time monitoring and superior menace detection techniques to mitigate potential losses.
Cyber threats and restoration
Cyber threats elevated by 40% in 2024, leading to $2.3 billion in losses throughout 165 incidents. Regardless of the sharp improve, whole losses remained 37% decrease than in 2022.
Ethereum was the first goal of fraudsters, with entry management breaches inflicting losses of $1.9 billion in 67 incidents. The usage of sensible contracts accounted for $456.8 million, whereas one handle poisoning incident resulted in $68.7 million in stolen funds.
Anti-fraud efforts have recovered $1.3 billion this yr because of on-chain investigators like ZachXBT and bug bounty packages.
Essentially the most incidents had been recorded within the first quarter of the yr, when 53 circumstances had been recorded. Nevertheless, the biggest monetary losses occurred within the third quarter, totaling $760 million.
Notable incidents included the $305 million DMM Alternate breach as a consequence of a compromised non-public key, the $235 million hack focusing on WazirX through a multi-signature pockets vulnerability, and the $52 million loss suffered by BingX after the pockets was exploited.
The Cyvers report states that entry management incidents account for 81% of whole losses, regardless of solely accounting for 41.6% of all reported circumstances.
