Blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer reported that a crypto whale’s address was drained of 15,079 fwDETH, worth approximately $36 million, in a phishing scam.
Data from Arkham Intelligence suggests that the phished address may be linked to venture capital firm Continue Capital. The company has not yet commented on the incident
Meanwhile, Yu Xian, founder of blockchain security company SlowMist, linked the attack to phishing group Angel Drainer, a known “drainage as a service” (DAAS) provider.
Typically, wallet drainers provide fraudsters with phishing tools such as fake social media accounts, websites and the like in exchange for a share of the stolen funds. In 2023, these phishing services contributed to the theft of $295 million from 324,000 victims.
Phishing scams like this remain a persistent problem for the crypto industry. Scam Sniffer reported that such attacks caused losses of approximately $126 million in the third quarter of 2024 alone.
Depeg DETH
The attack caused significant disruption in DeFi markets, leading to the delisting of DETH, an asset intended to maintain a 1:1 exchange rate with ETH.
On-chain analyst Ember CN revealed that the attacker quickly exchanged the stolen DETH for ETH via a decentralized exchange. However, the liquidity of the DETH pool was insufficient, allowing the attacker to only receive 2,288 ETH out of the 14,079 DETH sold.
Nonetheless, the action emptied the pool, causing a major decoupling between DETH and WETH. The value of stolen goods dropped 85%, from $35.98 million to $5.5 million.
In an October 11 post on X, decentralized trading platform Duo Exchange acknowledged the phishing attack but assured users that its protocols remained secure and fully functional. He declared:
“We are aware of the recent phishing attack against some Duo whales. Over 10,000 DETH were undervalued on AMMs to cause a drop in the price of DETH.
According to DeFillama data, the total value of assets locked on the platform dropped sharply from $103 million to $86 million in a single day.
