A decentralized finance (DeFi) trader lost $27M in a phishing scam targeting the Venus Protocol, a popular DeFi lending platform. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, the attacker fooled the user into confirming a malicious transaction. This allowed them to withdraw about $19.8M in Venus USDT and $7.15M in Venus USDC from the wallet.
Venus Protocol verified there were no weaknesses in its smart contracts and that the loss was due to user error. As a precaution, the protocol has been suspended for a comprehensive security assessment while investigations are ongoing.
The event came during a rise in crypto hacks that coincided with the beginning of September. Other recent attacks include a phishing attempt that targeted World Liberty Financial's governance tokenholders and a $2.3M smart contract hack on decentralized exchange Bunni.
Over $163M in cryptocurrency losses were reported in August, resulting from 16 incidents. Experts warn that crypto attacks tend to increase when market prices rise, emphasizing the need for increased security monitoring in the field.
