Ethereum Denver Conference Fake Website Become Phishing Target Of Smart Contract, IDR 4.5 Billion Ether Stolen

JAKARTA - The popular Ethereum Denver conference became the latest phishing target of a suspicious smart contract that managed to steal more than 300,000 US dollars (IDR 4.5 billion) of Ether value.

This week, the popular conference website was duplicated by hackers to trick users into connecting to their MetaMask wallet. According to Blockfence which identified the fake website, smart contracts have accessed more than 2,800 wallets and stolen more than 300,000 US dollars in the last six months. ETHDenver also issued a warning to its followers on Twitter regarding the malicious website.

Blockfence CEO, Omri Lahav, told Cointelegraph that users are directed to connect with their MetaMask wallet via the usual "connect wallet" button. The website requests transactions that, if approved, will perform malicious functions and steal user funds.

The Blockfence research team identified this incident while tracking different trends in the industry. Lahav says that the smart contract that executed the scam has stolen over 177 ETH since it was implemented in mid-2022.

“Since the smart contract was implemented almost six months ago, it is possible to use it on other phishing websites,” said Lahav, quoted by Cointelegraph.

The hackers have even paid for Google ads to promote these malicious website URLs, relying on high search trends, with ETHDenver taking place on February 24th and 25th. The fake website appears in second place on a Google search, above the real ETHDenver website.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, attacks and scams continue to be common within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In 2022, more than 2.8 billion US dollars (IDR 42.3 trillion) of cryptocurrencies were stolen through various types of attacks and exploits.