Crypto Scams Take a Big Hit in 2025

A Significant Decline in Losses

In 2025, crypto phishing attacks experienced a dramatic drop:

• Losses plummeted to $83.85 million, an 83% decrease from the previous year's $494 million.
• Only 106 victims, a 68% drop from 2024.

Phishing Follows Market Trends

Despite the decline, phishing scams are still prevalent, following market trends:

• During Ethereum's big rally in Q3 2025, phishing losses hit $31 million, nearly 29% of the year's total.

New Scam Tactics Emerge

Permit Signature Scams

• A big scam in September stole $6.5 million using a sneaky trick called Permit signature.
• These attacks made up 38% of the big losses in 2025.

EIP-7702 Exploits After Ethereum's Pectra Upgrade

• Scammers started bundling harmful actions into one signature.
• Two big cases in August stole $2.54 million, showing how fast scammers adapt.

Shift to Smaller, More Frequent Scams

• Only 11 cases topped $1 million in 2025, down from 30 in 2024.
• The average loss per victim dropped to $790, meaning scammers are targeting regular people more than big fish.

Crypto Hacks Also Decline in December

• Losses dropped to $76 million, a 60% decrease from November's $194.2 million.
• There were 26 big incidents, showing that while attacks are still happening, they're not as costly.

Stay Alert: Scammers Are Always Adapting

While it's good news that scams are down, it's important to stay alert. Scammers are always finding new ways to trick people, and the crypto world is no exception.