TL;DR
- The “Pig Butchering” fraud caused $3.6 billion in losses in 2024, making it the biggest threat to cryptocurrency users.
- Cyber frauds increased by 40% compared to the previous year, with $2.3 billion in losses.
- Despite the losses, $1.3 billion was recovered thanks to the efforts of investigators, and although there was an increase, the losses were 37% lower than in 2022.
The fraud known as “Pig Butchering” became the most recurrent threat for cryptocurrency users in 2024, causing losses amounting to $3.6 billion, according to a report by the cybersecurity firm Cyvers.
This type of scam, which originated in South Korea, has gained notoriety in the industry due to its prolonged and sophisticated nature. In this scheme, attackers emotionally manipulate victims over an extended period before stealing large amounts of funds. Most of the frauds were concentrated on the Ethereum blockchain, where more than 150,000 addresses were involved, and around 800,000 fraudulent transactions were recorded.
The report also revealed that cyber frauds, in general, increased by 40% compared to the previous year. A total of 165 fraud incidents were registered, with total losses reaching $2.3 billion. Most of the losses, $1.9 billion, were due to access control breaches, which represented 40% of the incidents. Additionally, smart contract exploits and “address poisoning” were responsible for additional losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Most Harmful Frauds for the Industry
Among the major attacks of the year were breaches affecting well-known crypto exchanges. The Indian platform WazirX lost $235 million due to a vulnerability in its multi-sig wallet, while DMM Exchange suffered an attack where it lost nearly $305 million due to a compromise in its Bitcoin private key. Another incident occurred at BingX, where $52 million was extracted through a vulnerability in its hot wallet.
Despite the huge damage caused by these attacks, a significant portion of the stolen funds was recovered. Approximately $1.3 billion was recovered throughout the year, thanks to the efforts of investigators such as ZachXBT, who traced the lost funds. The report also noted that, despite the increase in frauds, losses in 2024 were 37% lower compared to 2022, suggesting a slight improvement in cybersecurity.
Regarding the distribution of incidents, the first quarter of the year was the most active, with 53 cases reported, while the third quarter experienced the highest losses, with $760 million. The least activity was observed in the fourth quarter, reflecting a decrease in the number of attacks in the last part of the year
