TON Wallet Drainer Shuts Down to Focus on Bitcoin

A TON wallet drainer shuts down its services on the blockchain due to value users, and it is now shifting its focus to Bitcoin.

A wallet-draining service on The Open Network (TON) has announced its closure, attributing the decision to a scarcity of whales in the community. On October 7, the drainer, which targeted TON wallets, notified its followers that it would be ceasing operations and recommended that they transition to a Bitcoin-draining service.

Scam Sniffer, a crypto anti-scam solution, disclosed this information on its official X page. The drainer announced that they are ceasing operations on the network due to the limited number of whales and the small community in TON, as evidenced by the screenshot provided. The bad actor continued, asserting that if its followers derive pleasure from draining the TON network, they would undoubtedly find Bitcoin more rewarding.

The wallet drainer advised users to send a direct message if they desired to drain Bitcoin and stated that they would not return to the TON network in the same post.

According to a Cointelegraph interview with Blockaid co-founder Raz Niv, this service closure results from heightened interest from drainers in the TON ecosystem. He noted that the value being transacted through TON’s network had made it more appealing to hackers.

Recently, TON has experienced an increase in its total value locked (TVL), which can be attributed to the numerous projects constructed on the network. TON’s TVL increased to $608.65 million in July. Its increase in TVL has been facilitated by its integration with the messaging application Telegram. Nevertheless, this increase in activity has also attracted malicious actors seeking to capitalize on the ecosystem’s burgeoning value.

A TON drainer was the subject of a malicious act in which a fictitious $5,000 USDT transaction was employed to deceive users. The scammer concealed their true intentions by utilizing TON’s comment feature, enabling messages to be attached to transactions.

The funds were stolen after the users confirmed the transaction. In May, Scam Sniffer reported that this approach alone resulted in the loss of over 22,000 Toncoin tokens, valued at over $150,000.

Phishing Scams and the Increase in Crypto Fraud

In September, over 10,000 victims lost an estimated $46 million to phishing scams, which have also been a concern in crypto.

Swindle Sniffer observed that the phishing scam resulted in $127 million in losses, with an average of 11,000 victims per month.

Over $32 million in cryptocurrency was lost due to a significant phishing transaction. These scams deceive users into connecting their wallets to fraudulent services, which enables hackers to withdraw funds without requiring additional verification.

As a result, users must develop strategies to prevent the use of compromised invite links or fake ads by bad actors, given how they are scamming. Also, they could employ bots or hacked accounts to inundate Twitter comments and mentions with phishing links or harmful content.