The month of March saw a significant increase in cryptocurrency funds stolen from phishing scams on Ethereum layer 2 Base, according to recent data. Scam Sniffer, a blockchain anti-scam platform, reported that approximately $3.35 million was lost to phishing scammers on Base in March alone. This marks an 18-fold increase compared to the figures from January. In February, the tally was $773,900, so there was a 334% increase month-on-month. Compared to January, the spike was even more significant, with a 1,880% increase. Binance’s BNB Smart Chain also experienced a surge in phishing scams in March, as noted by Scam Sniffer.
Overall, across all chains, phishing scammers managed to steal approximately $71.5 million from 77,529 victims in March. This surpasses the amounts lost in January and February, which were $58.3 million and $46.8 million, respectively. Scam Sniffer highlighted that phishing links from fake accounts on X remained a common tactic, with over 1,500 incidents detected in March.
The increase in phishing scams on Base coincides with the memecoin craze on the Coinbase-backed chain. This trend has contributed to an increase in Base’s total value locked, which has surpassed $3.2 billion in 2024, marking a 370% increase so far, according to L2Beat.
Despite the rise in phishing scams, the month of March saw a decrease in crypto hack thefts. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, thefts fell by 48% to $187.2 million in March. This figure takes into account the $98.8 million that was recovered over the month. The majority of the recoveries came from the $97 million Munchibles exploit, with cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT playing a role in recovering the stolen funds.
However, there were still notable hack incidents in March. Curio’s MakerDAO-based smart contract lost $40 million, according to updated figures from PeckShield. Prisma Finance also fell victim to a hack, losing $11.6 million. The firm is currently in negotiations with the hacker to return the funds.
In response to the growing threat of crypto hacks, a team of white hats called ‘SEAL 911’ has been formed to fight these attacks in real time.