Investor Loses $2.6 Million in Stablecoins to Double Phishing Scam
A victim lost $2.6 million in stablecoins due to two phishing scams executed within three hours. The first loss involved $843,000 worth of USDT, followed by another transfer of $1.75 million worth of USDT.
The scheme used was a zero-value transfer scam, where attackers exploit token transfer functions without needing access to the victim's private keys. After a fake transfer from the victim’s wallet to a fraudulent address, the victim mistakenly trusts the address during later transactions, leading to further losses.
Key Points
- Total loss: $2.6 million in stablecoins.
- First incident: $843,000 worth of USDT.
- Second incident: $1.75 million worth of USDT.
- Phishing technique exploited: zero-value transfer scam.
- Previous phishing scams resulted in over $46 million in losses for Coinbase users in March 2025.
- In Q3 2024, phishing scams cost around $127 million, impacting about 11,000 victims.
Attackers use various techniques, including address poisoning, to trick users into sending funds to fraudulent addresses.