• May losses from rug pulls and scams reached over $45 million.
• DeFi protocols were attacked for less than half that amount in the same month.
• Crypto users are advised to raise their anti-fraud awareness.

Overview

In May, more money was lost to crypto rug pulls and exit scams than to attacks on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. A blockchain security firm revealed that these types of scams yielded over $45 million while DeFi exploits racked up less than half of that amount over the same period.

Losses from Rug Pulls and Scams

The largest of the rug pulls was an alleged $32 million taken by crypto project Fintoch on May 24th. Beosin warned crypto users to “raise their anti-fraud awareness”, do due diligence before investing, and better safeguard their crypto assets.

Attacks on DeFi Protocols

The total amount stolen from DeFi protocols was $19.7 million, which is a nearly 80% decrease from April’s numbers. The attack on Jimbos protocol yielded the highest amount at $7.5 million last month.

Warning Against Public Charging

Beosin also warned against using shared or public charging devices for mobile phones as they can be modified to inject malicious programs that could compromise private keys. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation also issued a similar warning in April saying free charging stations should be avoided as bad actors have found ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices.

Advice For Crypto Users

To protect themselves from falling victim to these kinds of scams, Beosin recommends users: raise their anti-fraud awareness, undertake due diligence on a project before investing, carry personal chargers and USB cords instead of using free charging stations in airports, hotels or shopping centers, and learn how to better safeguard their cryptocurrency holdings.