Phishing Scam Backfires! Criminal Tool Pink Drainer Falls into Zero-U Address Poison Trap, 10ETH Disappears

The phishing crime tool Pink Drainer, which announced the closure of its services in May this year, fell into a "zero U address poisoning" trap in a transaction at the end of June. Approximately 10 ETH, worth about $30,000 at the current price, was stolen from the related address.

Pink Drainer Phished for $30,000

The crypto tracking platform MistTrack revealed in a tweet yesterday that the phishing tool Pink Drainer, a popular tool among criminals that has announced its closure, fell victim to a zero-transfer attack, commonly known as "zero U address poisoning," in recent fund activities.

The platform stated that addresses associated with Pink Drainer appeared to be the victims this time, losing 10 ETH, equivalent to about $30,000, in the zero-transfer attack:

The "zero-transfer attack" refers to attackers creating a wallet that closely resembles the target's commonly used wallet address, with almost identical alphanumeric characters at the beginning and end.

It added, "This is intended to deceive the target, causing users to mistakenly send funds to the wrong wallet by copying the false address without thoroughly checking it."

In the image above, the fake address mimicked the first and last six characters, successfully tricking Pink Drainer.

Pink Drainer Announces Shutdown

On May 17th this year, Pink Drainer announced in its official Telegram that it would cease operations, claiming to have stolen $75 million within a year and would permanently shut down and delete the entire chat room records:

Following this announcement, we will begin to gradually close all tools, resources, and communication channels. All information will be deleted and securely destroyed.

Data from Dune shows that Pink Drainer has been flourishing since July 2023 and has made substantial profits in the market surge from March to May this year, with over 21,000 victims to date and a total stolen amount of nearly $85.3 million.

In November last year, another phishing tool, Inferno Drainer, also announced its closure after assisting in stealing $80 million.

Earned a hefty $80 million! Phishing tool Inferno Drainer announces closure: Nothing lasts forever

However, despite Pink Drainer ceasing operations, there are still other notorious phishing tool services, including Venom Drainer, Angel Drainer, and Pussy Drainer, among others.

Users Beware of "Zero-Transfer Attacks"

Facing evolving methods of stealing funds by criminals, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has also been a victim of zero-transfer attacks, and even the exchange Binance nearly lost tens of millions of dollars due to this. Readers are advised to correctly verify addresses and review the content carefully when making transfers, rather than simply confirming the address's beginning and end.

ZeroTransfer Scam! Cryptocurrency wallet addresses should not be judged solely by the first and last characters. Zhao Changpeng CZ warns: Binance nearly scammed $20 million Zero U address poisoning