Augusto Backes, a Brazilian crypto influencer, lost over $211,000 after falling victim to a phishing email claiming to be from Blast's airdrop. The scam involved clicking on a malicious link and signing a transaction on MetaMask.
Augusto Backes, a prominent figure in the Brazilian crypto community, fell victim to a staggering loss of over $211,000 from his digital wallet on March 3. The unfortunate incident occurred after he unsuspectingly clicked on a malicious link embedded within a phishing email, as revealed in a recent video shared on his channel.
Backes recounted that the deceptive email purported to be associated with an airdrop organized by Blast, Ethereum's layer-2 blockchain platform. Despite encountering numerous phishing attempts on a daily basis, Backes admitted that he let his guard down momentarily while engrossed in scripting a video.
"Amidst the frenzy of activity, an email popped up. Two months prior, I had enrolled my wallet for Blast's airdrop and apparently needed to verify the quantity of NFTs for eligibility," Backes explained in the video. "The email appeared legitimate, seemingly sent from Blast. However, it was a meticulously crafted scam, with the fraudster mimicking the official website. I clicked the 'Claim your tokens' button, confirmed the transaction via MetaMask, and watched helplessly as everything vanished into the void."
Joe Green, the Head of the Quick Response Team at CertiK, a blockchain security firm, highlighted that the malicious addresses implicated in the attack were associated with the Inferno Drainer scam. Nonetheless, this particular scheme had been dismantled back in November 2023, with one of its key figures transitioning to the Angel Drainer faction.
"Although the malevolent addresses were connected to the Inferno previously, it's improbable that this was an Inferno Drainer operation," Green elucidated. "The scammer's wallet address is 0x3CF955Bf92DD56CFE51cf7024EA1F2be49CEBC2F, while the fee address is 0xf672775e124E66f8cC3FB584ed739120d32bBaad. Transactions were initiated by 0x0000db5c8B030ae20308ac975898E09741e70000, a known entity in the Inferno Drainer network."
Issuing a cautionary advisory to Web3 users, Green stressed the importance of scrutinizing sender email addresses. "In this instance, the email purportedly originated from [email protected], clearly diverging from Blast's official communication channels. This discrepancy should serve as an immediate red flag for users, signaling a potential phishing attempt."
Furthermore, Green emphasized the necessity for users to meticulously verify the authenticity of URLs before authorizing wallet connections and transaction signings.