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A wallet drainer on The Open Network (TON) said it was shutting down and directed its users to a different crypto-draining service.&nbsp;
On Oct. 7, Web3 anti-scam solution Scam Sniffer <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/realScamSniffer/status/1843145484506161519" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">shared</a> a screenshot of a TON-based wallet drainer announcing its shutdown. The wallet drainer said there were not enough crypto whales in the community, which was bad for its business. The hackers wrote:&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 “Due to TON not having whales and it being a small community, we will close.”
</blockquote>
The wallet drainer directed its users to drain Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price">BTC</a>) instead. In the announcement, the hackers said that if their users “enjoyed draining” on TON, they would also “love” draining BTC.&nbsp;
The drainer advertised a different service and said its TON-based drainer would not return.&nbsp;
<h2 id="drainers-started-to-eye-ton-in-june">Drainers started to eye TON in June</h2>
In a previous Cointelegraph interview, Blockaid co-founder Raz Niv said they’ve seen more drainers <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/ethereum-phishing-drainers-ton-bitcoin/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">become interested in TON</a>. Niv explained:&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 “We’re seeing a lot of drainers become more and more interested in the TON ecosystem [because] there is so much value streamed through TON.”
</blockquote>
A TON drainer was also detected baiting users with a fake 5,000 USDt (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/tether-price-index" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/tether-price-index">USDT</a>) transaction. The scam used TON’s comment feature, which lets transfers include a custom message, essentially masking the real purpose of signatures.&nbsp;
Transfer messages show signs like “Receive 5,000 USDT” and a “Confirm” button. When a user signs the transaction, the token drain commences.&nbsp;
In May, Scam Sniffer said that the trick had already been used to drain 22,000 Toncoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/toncoin-price-index" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/toncoin-price-index">TON</a>) tokens, worth over $150,000 at the time.&nbsp;
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/lego-removes-crypto-token-scam-from-homepage" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">LEGO removes crypto scam from homepage after being hacked: Report</a>
<h2 id="phishing-scams-drained-46-million-in-september">Phishing scams drained $46 million in September</h2>
Meanwhile, Scam Sniffer data showed that about 10,800 victims were affected by phishing attacks in September and that about $46.6 million in digital assets was <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-phishing-attacks-q3-2024" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">lost to phishing last month</a>. Most of the losses came from one phishing transaction <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/user-loses-32-million-sp-weth-sophisticated-phishing-attack" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">draining over $32 million in crypto</a>.&nbsp;
Phishing attacks trick crypto holders into linking their wallets to fraudulent services like drainers. This allows the malicious actors to withdraw their victim’s funds without further authentication.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/crypto-scam-investigator-south-korea-us-nk-hackers-asia-express/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Suspicious arrest of crypto scam reporter, Japan’s pro-crypto PM: Asia Express</a>

TON-based wallet drainer shuts down, eyes Bitcoin

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Cointelegraph

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