A TON-based wallet drainer on the TON network has announced its plan to shut down operations, directing its users to patronize a different cryptocurrency-draining service.
The wallet drainer cites the lack of crypto whales in the TON community as the major reason for its closure.
TON-based Wallet Drainer Shuts Down, Eyes Bitcoin
On Monday, October 7, Scam Sniffer, a Web3 anti-scam solution, announced in an X post that “A Ton wallet drainer is shutting down its services,” sharing a screenshot of the announcement.
According to the screenshot, the group of hackers revealed that it is closing down its services. The wallet drainer cited “TON is a small community and does not have whales” as the reason for shutting down on the network. It says,
Due to TON not having whales and it being a small community, we will close.
Funnily, the wallet drainer did not leave its users without a guide. In the announcement, the TON-based wallet drainer encouraged its users to consider draining Bitcoin instead. The drainer suggested that those who “enjoyed draining on the TON” will “definitely love draining Bitcoins.”
The wallet drainer went ahead and advertised an alternative cryptocurrency draining service, which confirmed that the TON-based wallet drainer had shut down for good.
Wallet drainers usually leverage phishing attacks, where unsuspecting cryptocurrency holders are tricked into connecting their crypto wallets to fraudulent services like crypto drainers. Once the linking is completed, the hacker withdraws the victim’s crypto asset without further authentication.
Wallet Drainers Targeted TON Network In June
In an interview in June, Raz Niv, co-founder of Blockaid, mentioned that more phishing drainers are becoming interested in TON.
According to Niv,
We are seeing lots of drainers become more and more interested in the TON network [because] there is so much value streamed through TON.
Niv cited an incident where a detected TON drainer baited users with a fake 5,000 Tether USDT transaction. According to the explanation, the scam utilized TON’s comment feature, which allows transfers to include a custom message to mask the real purpose of signatures.
The Transfer messages instead bear signs like “Receive 5,000 USDT” and a “Confirm” button. Once the unsuspecting user confirms the transaction, the token draining starts.
BTCRepublic also reported that Blockchain security researcher Yu Xian pointed out the vulnerabilities on the TON network, warning that the phishing campaign on the TON blockchain is targeting TON wallets.
Phishing Scams Drained Over $300M In August And $46M In September
CertiK reported that over $300M was lost to phishing exploits in August.
These phishing attacks are the highest crypto phishing scam attacks that were recorded in CertiK’s records for August 2024.
Scam Sniffer has earlier reported that over 10,800 people were victims of phishing attacks in September and that almost $46.6M in cryptocurrencies were lost in the phishing attacks.
