Crypto Week: Scam Service Shut Down, and Ethereum Updates

The famous scam service Monkey Drainer has been suddenly shut down. The service has reported that it is shutting down its phishing smart contract ‘scam as a service’ offerings. The service has been popular among cybercriminals, taking a 30% cut for its services. It offered a fake NFT airdrop that was promoted through hacked Twitter accounts of real projects or via its copies.

Once   users clicked the link to receive an airdrop, they were instructed to authorise their MetaMask as this is the procedure on Web3 websites. However, behind this authorisation was a drain smart-contract that looked for tokens on user wallet. The users were then asked if they wanted to make transactions to receive the NFT, while the real transaction moved these tokens to hacker wallets. Monkey Drainer was dominating this fraudulent segment. The decision to shut it down may have resulted from the increased forensic scrutiny the market has experienced recently, as authorities and cyber security firms pay more attention to crypto services.

The shutdown does not mean that cybercriminals will disappear, or even lower their activity. There are lots of Monkey Drainer copies on the internet, along with other criminal offers to steal crypto assets. One of the popular fishing schemes is to offer users the chance  to send 10 USDC to test the service and in return they receives three scam transactions while inadvertently using one of the links to transfer most of the funds. Crypto users have gotten used to shortcut wallet addresses having a certain pattern  while crypto criminals use this to fake real addresses with their own scam wallet.

Meanwhile, ‘Shanghai’ update for Ethereum network is nearing. The update will allow users who staked their ETH on the deposit to withdraw it. The deposit was launched in 2020 without any information on when the deposited fund could be received back. Nonetheless, the amount of staking was growing stably even during market turbulence.

Investors are unlikely to sell staked ETH immediately as there are trading 70% off their peak prices. Many believe the correction is almost over, while others are looking to buy ETH at a significant discount. Moreover, many crypto enthusiasts are looking for staking opportunities. The overall staking balance is likely to be positive, manifesting the strength of the Ethereum.