Crypto phishing losses fell 83% in 2025, but drainer ecosystem ‘remains active’
Wallet drainer phishing losses dropped sharply in 2025, but security researchers warn activity still rises with market rallies and new attack vectors continue to emerge.
Crypto phishing attacks tied to wallet drainers dropped sharply in 2025, with total losses falling to $83.85 million, down 83% year over year from nearly $494 million in 2024.
The number of victims also declined significantly to 106,000, a 68% drop from the previous year, Web3 security platform Scam Sniffer said in its new report analyzing signature-based phishing across Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains.
Despite the steep fall, the report warned that phishing activity has not disappeared. Instead, losses closely followed market cycles, rising during periods of higher onchain activity and easing as markets cooled. The third quarter of 2025, which coincided with Ethereum (ETH)’s strongest rally of the year, recorded the highest phishing losses at $31 million, with August-September accounting for nearly 29% of annual losses.
