Update Sept. 2, 11:57 am UTC. This article has been updated to include a correction from PeckShield.
A decentralized finance (DeFi) trader lost $13.5 million in crypto after falling victim to a phishing scam, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield.
PeckShield initially reported on Tuesday that a user of the DeFi lending platform Venus Protocol saw crypto assets worth $27 million disappear in a phishing attack.
However, the investigation firm later corrected the amount to $13.5 million, saying they did not consider the user’s debt position in their initial estimate.
A phishing attack is a type of scam where attackers trick victims into granting malicious permissions or revealing sensitive information by pretending to be a legitimate source. In this incident, the user approved a malicious transaction, allowing the attacker to drain stablecoins and wrapped assets from its balance.
Venus Protocol pauses protocol to investigate
Venus Protocol’s official social media account responded to community concerns in an X thread, confirming there was no flaw in its smart contracts.
When a user asked if this was due to the user’s mistake, Venus said it was likely the case. However, Venus said that as a precautionary measure, it would pause the protocol to conduct security reviews.
“Right now, yes, that appears to be the case. We will keep everyone updated as we investigate,” Venus Protocol wrote. “Protocol is paused while security reviews are underway.”
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Hackers ramp up attacks as September starts
The recent phishing attack adds to a list of criminal efforts to steal crypto at the start of September. On Tuesday, World Liberty Financial’s (WLFI) governance tokenholders were hit by a known phishing wallet exploit, according to SlowMist founder Yu Xian.
On the same day, decentralized exchange (DEX) Bunni paused all its smart contract functions in response to a security exploit in its Ethereum-based smart contracts. Security company BlockSec Phalcon estimated that the protocol lost about $2.3 million in the attack.
The attacks that started at the beginning of September follow millions in losses the previous month. In August, crypto attacks led to over $163 million in losses across 16 attacks. Kronos Research CEO Hank Huang told Cointelegraph that crypto exploits often increase as prices rise.
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