One Week in June: $150 Million Lost in Web3 Crypto Scams and Hacks

The crypto market experienced a significant setback in the last week of June, as nearly $150 million was stolen through various hacks and web3 crypto scams. SlowMist's weekly security report provided insights into the specific projects that fell victim to these fraudulent activities.

Throughout June, four projects encountered security breaches, scams, and rug pulls. These incidents occurred in the final week of the month, affecting Shido, Ichioka Ventures, an unnamed company claiming to identify dogs by their nose wrinkles, Chibi Finance, and Biswap. The respective losses suffered by these projects amounted to $238,500, $21 million, $127 million, $1 million, and $50,000.

Notably, the company associated with dog nose wrinkles was responsible for the majority of the losses, with a Ponzi scheme draining $127 million from unsuspecting users. Ichioka Ventures also turned out to be a fraudulent project, while the remaining incidents were attributed to hacking activities.

In addition to these incidents, Themis recently suffered a hack resulting in a loss of $370,000. On the other hand, Manta Network encountered a Twitter account hijacking, although no losses were reported. It is important to note that there may be further unreported incidents within the market.

The unfortunate series of security incidents in June further compounds the challenges faced by the crypto market. In the first half of the year alone, a staggering $656 million was stolen from the web3 space.

Efforts to recover the stolen assets have yielded some success, with approximately $215 million retrieved thus far. This marks an improvement compared to 2022 when only 8% of the stolen funds were recovered.

Phishing attacks and rug pulls remain the most common types of incidents, continuing a trend observed since 2022. Numerous individuals have fallen victim to these types of attacks.

The reports also shed light on the ongoing occurrence of scams and hacks within the market, accompanied by the emergence of new trends. Notably, AI-related crypto scams have gained traction as scammers exploit the widespread interest in artificial intelligence to promote their fraudulent schemes. Impersonation scams also remain prevalent.

Web3 crypto scams employ various tactics, including the use of AI-generated fake CEOs. The severity of these scams has reached a point where governments are issuing warnings to individuals, emphasizing the need for caution.