Whale Crypto Loses IDR 490 Billion Due To Scam Inferno Drainer

Whale crypto lost IDR 490 billion because of Inferno Drainer (Photo; Doc. Ledgernoise)

JAKARTA - A crypto whale, known to have large amounts of digital assets, has reportedly lost more than US$32.4 million (approximately Rp490 billion) after being a victim of the Inferno Drainer phishing scam scam security firm. According to blockchain security firm Scamher, this incident occurred as a result of dangerous transactions that caused the draining of thousands of Wrapped Ether tokens (spWETH) from the victim's wallet. This incident adds to the long list of cyberattacks targeting large crypto asset holders.

This scam involves more than 12,000 spWETH tokens taken from the DeFi Spark platform. The total value of the stolen tokens reached around $32.4 million at the time of the incident. The attackers took advantage of existing vulnerabilities to take over control of the victim's wallet. blockchain intelligence firm Arkham reported that the incident was linked to Inferno Drainer, a scam-as-a-service operation. The scheme works by making a fake version of the well-known DeFi app, which seems legitimate but designed to steal control of the user's wallet after they signed the transaction.

Inferno Drainer is not a new name in the world of crypto fraud. Since operating, the scheme has stolen more than 215 million US Dollars (approximately IDR 3.2 trillion) from more than 200,000 victims. The manager of this scheme even took 20% of the total stolen tokens as a "service fee". After being closed at the end of 2023, Inferno Drainer reappeared in May 2024 with new, more sophisticated service promises. Now, the scheme claims to support 28 blockchains and hundreds of DeFi applications, posing a wider threat to the crypto community. Interestingly, even though this scheme is well known, this kind of attack is still successful in taking its toll, especially big digital asset holders like whales.

The wallet that was targeted for this hack was linked to a crypto whale named CZSamSun, although its true identity has not been confirmed. The victim had sent a message via blockchain offering 20% of the lost funds in return if the stolen token was returned. Unfortunately, there was no response from the fraudster. LookOnChain analytics platform also issued a warning via social media X, urging users not to click on suspicious links and always check every transaction carefully before approving it.