March brought some good news about the recent crypto scam spree. Scam, hack, and exploit losses dropped to $28.8 million. That’s a huge relief compared to February’s massive $1.5 billion loss after the Bybit hack. Read on to get the details.
Recent statistics state that security measurements and recovery efforts reduce crypto scam activities.
What happened?
CertiK reports that March experienced crypto scams and exploit thefts totalling over $33 million. 1inch helped recover some of the stolen funds, resulting in a loss of $28.8 million instead of $33 million.
Source: X
The Abracadabra money suffered a $13 million loss due to a major smart contract exploit in March. The exploiter discovered a vulnerability that they had used to get the funds. They then dissolved their assets as they continued borrowing while neglecting repayments.
Nevertheless, they misled the system into believing they had greater collateral than they did. Abracadabra.money has increased its usual bounty offering from 10% to 20% to recover the stolen funds. Since the first deal announcement, there has been no update on whether the hacker will participate in the offer.
???? Breaking down the $13M Abracadabra MIM Exploit
A clever attacker drained $13M from @MIM_Spell’s lending markets integrated with @GMX_IO. Here’s the breakdown ????????— OKX Explorer (@okxexplorer) March 27, 2025
The second-biggest loss came from Zoth, a restaking protocol. Its deployer wallet got compromised, and the hacker withdrew $8.4 million in crypto assets.
How Were Some Funds Recovered?
One of the biggest wins for the month came from 1inch, which recovered most of the $5 million stolen in a March 5 exploit. The team reached a deal with the hacker, under which the hacker would accept money to return the stolen funds. While this doesn’t undo all the damage, it does show that you can persuade some hackers to return stolen funds in exchange for a reward.
#CertiKStatsAlert ????
Combining all the incidents in March we’ve confirmed ~$28.8M lost to exploits, hacks and scams after ~$4.8m was returned in the 1inch Resolver incident.
~$4.5M of the total is attributed to phishing.
Figures exclude the reported ~$32m theft from a… pic.twitter.com/Q2BHujUJpk
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) March 31, 2025
Other Crypto Scam Attempts
Aside from direct attacks, phishing scams continued to be a major problem in March. Crypto investigator ZachXBT said the market might have lost over $46 million to phishing scams spoofing crypto exchanges. Even worse, an unknown Coinbase user allegedly lost 400 BTC (worth $34 million)—a huge hit for any investor.
The problem became so bad that the Australian federal police had to warn 130 people about a message scam targeting crypto users. Scammers used fake exchange notifications to trick users into setting up a new wallet with pre-generated recovery phrases. If the victims followed through, the scammer would gain full control over their funds.
????️ NEW: ZachXBT claims a Coinbase user was likely scammed for $34.9M (400 $BTC), pushing total suspected thefts this month past $46M.
He notes Coinbase still hasn’t flagged the wallets, despite $300M/year in social engineering scams. pic.twitter.com/w3ZQ5dyjzu
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) March 28, 2025
Conclusion
While crypto scams and exploits are still a major issue, the drop from $1.5 billion in February to $28.8 million in March is a positive sign. Better security measures, faster response times, and successful fund recoveries are helping reduce losses. But as phishing scams and smart contract exploits continue, we must all stay vigilant. Always double-check messages, avoid suspicious links, and store your assets securely.
Disclaimer
The information discussed by Altcoin Buzz is not financial advice. This is for educational, entertainment, and informational purposes only. Any information or strategies are thoughts and opinions relevant to the accepted levels of risk tolerance of the writer/reviewers, and their risk tolerance may be different from yours. We are not responsible for any losses that you may incur as a result of any investments directly or indirectly related to the information provided. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments, so please do your due diligence. Copyright Altcoin Buzz Pte Ltd.
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Camellia Catt