CoinMarketCap warns against scammers: never DM you first, verify before sending funds. #SAFU

CoinMarketCap warns against scammers: never DM you first, verify before sending funds. #SAFU

In recent months, the cryptocurrency community has been rocked by a series of high-profile phishing scams, resulting in significant financial losses. CoinMarketCap has issued a stern warning to investors: never accept unsolicited direct messages (DMs) and always verify before sending funds.

A notable incident involved a cryptocurrency investor who lost $3.05 million in USDT after falling victim to a phishing scam [1]. According to on-chain data from Etherscan, the investor unknowingly signed a malicious transaction that authorized the transfer of 3,083,781.826298 USDT to a wallet address ending in 0x54800000. The funds were siphoned from the victim’s wallet via the Aave: Ethereum USDT contract with a transaction fee of just 0.0057 ETH, worth around $20.

This is not an isolated event. In August 2024, another investor lost over $900,000 after unknowingly approving a malicious transaction [2]. Furthermore, in May 2024, $71 million was stolen in a wallet poisoning scam, only to be recovered two weeks later after global investigators traced the attacker’s IP address [1].

Phishing attacks are also prevalent on major trading platforms. Pseudonymous on-chain analyst ZachXBT reported that around $65 million was stolen from Coinbase users between December 2024 and January 2025 [1].

These incidents underscore the importance of staying vigilant on Web3 platforms. Phishing scams often rely on social engineering tactics to trick users into revealing sensitive information through fake links. Victims often fall prey to deceptive prompts and fake interfaces, leading to irreversible losses.

CoinMarketCap advises investors to follow strict security protocols, such as verifying wallet addresses, avoiding unsolicited DMs, and being cautious with transaction approvals. By staying alert and adhering to these practices, investors can mitigate the risk of falling victim to phishing scams.

References:
[1] https://finbold.com/crypto-investors-3-million-wiped-out-in-one-click/
[2] https://finbold.com/another-crypto-investor-loses-over-900k-in-phishing-scam/