Crypto Phishing Losses Fall by 83% to $84 Million, New Report Reveals

In a recent report from Scam Sniffer, it has been revealed that losses due to crypto phishing have drastically decreased by 83%, bringing the total to $83.85 million in 2025, down from an alarming $494 million in the previous year. The number of victims has also seen a significant decline of 68%, dropping to 106,106 from 332,000 in 2024. Moreover, the largest single theft recorded in 2025 fell a staggering 88.3%, amounting to $6.5 million compared to $55.48 million the prior year.

Key Takeaways

Crypto phishing losses decreased by 83% to $83.85 million in 2025 compared to $494 million in 2024.
The number of victims fell 68%, down to 106,106 from 332,000.
The largest theft in 2025 was $6.5 million, down from $55.48 million.
Significant declines were noted in cases exceeding $1 million, down by 63.3% to 11 cases.
Q3 saw peak phishing losses of $31.04 million during Ethereum's market rally.

Crypto phishing losses fell 83% in 2025

The report focused on wallet-drainer attacks that utilized phishing websites on EVM-compatible blockchains, while excluding direct hacks, exchanges compromised, and smart contract exploits.

Q3 Sees Spike in Losses Aligned with Market Activity

During the third quarter, crypto phishing losses reached a total of $31.04 million among 39,886 victims. This surge coincided with Ethereum experiencing its most robust rally period, accounting for 37% of annual losses despite covering just one-quarter of the year. August and September alone contributed to losses of $23.95 million, representing 29% of the year's total during peak trading activity. The average loss per victim during Q3 stood at $778, a decrease from $969 recorded in Q1.

Crypto phishing losses plunge 83% to $84M, report finds - 1

The fourth quarter, however, demonstrated the sharpest decline in losses, with only $13.09 million occurring over 22,592 victims as the markets started to cool off. December registered the lowest monthly loss at $2.04 million, affecting 5,313 victims. The report noted, "Market-Loss Correlation: Q3’s highest losses ($31M) coincided with ETH’s strongest rally. More market activity = more potential victims.” It emphasized that phishing risks increase as user activity rises.

Interestingly, November saw a unique situation where losses spiked by 137% while the number of victims dropped by 42%. The average loss per victim jumped to $1,225 in November, up from $580 in October. The report attributed this fluctuation more to monthly variation rather than indicating a long-term trend.

EIP-7702 Exploitation Emerges After Pectra Upgrade

Following the Pectra upgrade, crypto phishing attackers began to exploit EIP-7702 account abstraction features, allowing them to bundle multiple malicious actions into single signatures. In August, the largest cases involving EIP-7702 resulted in $2.54 million across two incidents.

Moreover, Permit and Permit2 signatures accounted for $8.72 million in losses spread across three significant cases, making up 38% of the large-case losses. Transfer-based attacks amounted to $4.87 million across two incidents. Additionally, the Approve and increaseApproval signatures together contributed to $5.62 million in losses from three cases.

The largest theft recorded in 2025 involved $6.5 million in stETH and aEthWBTC, which was stolen via a Permit signature in September. Earlier in May, an attack extracted $3.13 million in WBTC using the increaseApproval feature, while August witnessed $3.05 million in aEthUSDT taken via the Transfer signature.

A notable trend was that six of the 11 incidents exceeding $1 million occurred between July and September, aligning closely with peak market activity. In total, large-case losses for the year reached $22.98 million, constituting 27% of the overall losses for the year.