Phishing scammer returns $10 million to victim 10 months after $24 million Ethereum heist

A crypto whale who lost $24 million worth of liquid staked Ethereum via a phishing scam last year is receiving the money back.

Blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer reported that the attacker had returned more than $10 million of the stolen funds as of July 15.

The refund

On-chain data shows that the attacker began attempts to refund the stolen funds on July 6, sending an on-message that stated:

“I am the guy who took your money. I want to give the money back.”

After the message, the attacker transferred around $9.3 million worth of DAI stablecoins to the victim in two transactions, per Etherscan data. On July 15, the attacker refunded an additional $1 million of the stolen funds, bringing the total refund to $10.3 million as of press time.

Notably, the victim confirmed receipt of these transfers, saying:

“Acknowledging that 10.3M DAI has already been returned to this address. Thank you for wanting to give the money back. Please send the remainder back to this address.”

On July 16, the attacker promised to refund the balance but said they would like to talk with the victim privately. The victim subsequently set up a Telegram Group, but it was unclear if they had reached an understanding about the balance as of press time.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time Hackers have stolen and returned their loot after negotiating with their victims via blockchain messages. However, the reason for this particular refund is unclear, as the attack happened about 10 months ago.

Phishing attacks remain a major pain point for crypto users as malicious players tend to impersonate legitimate accounts on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to defraud their victims.

Scam Sniffer reported that these attacks resulted in a loss of around $341 million during the first six months of this year, surpassing the total $295 million stolen in 2023.

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