The hacker who stole $27 million in crypto from the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Penpie got a message of praise from another criminal. On Sept. 3, Penpie was hit by an exploit that cost them $27 million in digital assets. In reaction, the platform quickly halted all deposits and withdrawals.
Within 24 hours of the attack, the hacker funneled $7 million through the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. A crypto mixer mixes a user’s digital transactions with a large pool of other funds, making it harder to trace the original source. While some use these tools for privacy, hackers also favor them for laundering stolen assets.
Crypto scams surge: $63M lost in August alone
After the $195 million flash loan attack on Euler Finance in Mar. 2023, the hacker sent a message to the Penpie hacker. In it, the thief applauded the choice not to give back the stolen money. Specifically, the Euler Finance hacker didn’t get the same results.
On Mar. 15, 2023, the lending platform contacted the hacker with an on-chain message, offering them the chance to keep around $20 million if they returned 90% of the stolen money.
At the same time, the protocol issued a warning, saying it’d offer a $1 million reward for anyone with information that could help track down and arrest the hacker. Additionally, on Apr. 4, the hacker behind the Euler Finance breach returned most of the stolen funds, allowing the platform to recover 90% of the lost amount.
Following this, the Euler Foundation ended the $1 million reward they had offered for the hacker’s capture. Over 9,000 people fell victim to crypto phishing scams in August, losing around $63 million. While the number of victims decreased from July, the total losses surged by 215%, largely due to a single major attack that accounted for $55 million of the stolen funds.
On Aug. 20, a wallet owner unknowingly signed a fraudulent transaction, handing over control of 55 million Dai to crypto scammers who then made off with the funds.
