Inferno Drainer: Crypto Phishing Service Extracts $6 Million from Nearly 5,000 Victims

A malicious cryptocurrency phishing service, Inferno Drainer, has reportedly conned thousands of people out of roughly $6 million in cryptocurrency assets, according to Scam Sniffer, a Web3 anti-scam firm. The illegal service has reportedly created a staggering 689 fraudulent websites since it started operating on March 27.

Scam Sniffer's in-depth investigation found that the rogue websites mimic 229 reputable brands, including prominent names in the crypto world such as MetaMask, OpenSea, Collab.Land, Pepe, Revoke, LooksRare and Blur.

The firm reported that 4,888 individuals had fallen prey to these deceptive sites, which exploit the credibility of trusted brands to trick users into parting with their valuable digital assets.

Inferno Drainer's increasingly sophisticated modus operandi involved creating near-perfect replicas of legitimate websites. Visitors, who assume they are on authentic sites, inadvertently share sensitive information such as passwords and private keys, granting malicious actors access to their cryptocurrency wallets.

"By analyzing the associated data on the Mainnet, Arbitrum, BNB, and other chains, we found them has stolen about $5.9 million in assets and have nearly 4,888 victims so far," reads Scam Sniffer's security advisory. "The Mainnet has $4.3 million, Arbitrum has $0.79 million, Polygon has $0.41 million, and BNB has $0.39 million."

The discovery came to light after a suspected member of Inferno Scammer joined Scam Sniffer's Telegram channel. A closer look at the user's details revealed a link to the crypto phishing tool's official promotion channel on Telegram.

Scam Sniffer elaborates on its finding, saying that "in one of their channel screenshots, a $103k theft based on Permit2 was detected. By querying the transaction hash obscured in the screenshot, we found this transaction in Scam Sniffer's database and associated it with some known malicious addresses in our malicious address database. Looking at their announcement: it's a model that only charges 20% and 30% of the site-building fee. By associating information, Scam Sniffer has monitored that Inferno has created over 689 phishing websites since 03-27."

Scam Sniffer's reportserves as a stark reminder of the escalating threats within the digital economy and the sophisticated measures cybercriminals are willing to employ. The vastness and relative anonymity of the internet make it a fertile ground for such fraudulent activities.

Moreover, crypto's decentralized nature and their irreversible transactions exacerbate the problem, making recovery of stolen assets often impossible.

As of today, the Inferno Drainer service remains active, and efforts are underway to neutralize its operations and bring the culprits to justice.