Good news for crypto users! Scam Sniffer, the crypto anti-scam platform, just released their February report, and it shows a significant drop in phishing scam losses. We’re talking $5.32 million lost in February, which is a welcome 48% decrease compared to January’s numbers. In their recent post on X, Scam Sniffer also pointed out that the number of victims, totaling 7,442 addresses, also went down by nearly 20% month-over-month.

This positive trend means that the amount lost to phishing scams has actually been falling for three months straight, since December 2024. Looking back, the drop from December 2024 to January 2025 was particularly dramatic – losses plummeted by over 50%, from a hefty $23.58 million down to $10.25 million. Zooming out further, this adds up to a whopping 77% decrease in losses over the quarter spanning from December 2024 to February 2025!

Despite this encouraging news, crypto security experts at Scam Sniffer are urging users to stay vigilant. Don’t let your guard down just yet! These decreases don’t mean the coast is clear. Criminals are still out there, lurking and looking for their next target.

Now, let’s talk about where these losses are happening. Ethereum users seemed to be the hardest hit by phishing scams in February, accounting for the largest chunk of losses. The biggest single loss was a painful $771,000 due to “Address poisoning” (more on that in a bit). Another Ethereum user unfortunately lost $611,000 because of a “Permit” scam. Over on the BNB Smart Chain, one person lost $610,000 simply because they didn’t revoke an old phishing approval – an approval granted a whopping 385 days prior! This really emphasizes the crucial need to regularly review and revoke old approvals.

Address Poisoning: A Rising Threat – Experts Urge Caution

What’s particularly interesting is the rise of “address poisoning” scams. It seems like this tactic is becoming more popular with scammers. Scam Sniffer flagged several incidents beyond that huge $771,000 loss, including one where fraudsters managed to create fake addresses that cleverly matched the first four and last six characters of legitimate addresses. In one such case, someone unfortunately fell victim, resulting in a loss of $104,685.

So, what exactly is “address poisoning”? Essentially, it’s a sneaky scam where fraudsters interact with crypto wallets using addresses that look very similar to yours or addresses you might commonly use. They try to trick you into sending funds to their fake address instead of the real one. Scammers often do this by sending tiny, practically worthless transactions or fake tokens to your wallet. The idea is to get their malicious address into your transaction history, hoping you’ll absentmindedly copy it next time you’re sending crypto and accidentally send your funds to them!

Crypto security experts at Revoke.cash emphasize that it’s absolutely critical to meticulously double-check addresses *every single time* before sending any crypto. They strongly advise against simply copying addresses from your transaction history, even though it’s quick and easy. That convenience could cost you dearly!

Instead of relying on transaction history, the best practice is to always copy the recipient address directly from the source each time you make a transaction. Or, for Ethereum transactions, consider using ENS names for peer-to-peer transfers. Revoke.cash also pointed out that the old trick of just checking the first four and last six characters of an address might not be enough anymore, as scammers are now crafting fake addresses that even match that pattern!

Beyond Phishing: Overall Crypto Losses Still High in February

Zooming out to the bigger picture, while phishing losses were down, the overall crypto theft landscape in February wasn’t so pretty. Blockchain security firm Certik reports that total losses in the crypto industry reached a staggering $1.53 billion! A huge part of that was the massive $1.4 billion Bybit hack on February 21st.

Even if we take out that massive Bybit hack, the losses still add up to a significant $126 million. This is actually a 28.5% *increase* compared to the $98 million lost in January—so things are still moving in the wrong direction overall! The $49.5 million hack of stablecoin payment firm Infini also played a big role in this increase.

Despite the decrease in phishing incidents, Certik emphasizes that phishing is still a major threat, ranking among the top three causes of crypto losses in February. The biggest culprits overall were actually wallet compromises, followed by vulnerabilities in smart contracts.

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Source: cryptopolitan.com