A rug pull has become the most popular scam scheme in Q3 2023, accounting for more than 65% of all attacks on crypto users during this period.
According to data from the Hacken report, rug pull schemes account for the biggest part of attacks targeting crypto users in Q3 2023. 117 attacks were launched during this period, 78 of which turned out to be rug pulls.
Hacken analysts also reported that only 15% of the projects involved in rug pull schemes had any security audit pass information. Thus, it’s quite easy for users to recognize scam schemes, that’s why the profitability of such exploits in Q3 this year was one of the lowest. As a result, rug pull fraudsters managed to seize $49.8 million worth of crypto.
The total value of digital assets stolen during the period studied is estimated at $720 million. Here’s a detailed breakdown by individual attack vectors:
- $319 million was stolen in six attacks that breached or bypassed access control mechanisms (access control attacks);
- $85.4 million was stolen by hackers through eight reentrancy attacks;
- $26.7 million was stolen by scammers through phishing (two cases);
- $5.5 million was stolen by hackers in six flash loan attacks;
- $1.7 million was stolen by exploiting a vulnerability in one price oracle.
In Q3 2023, hackers were most active in exploiting blockchain networks such as:
- Ethereum — 76 attacks were recorded, 52 of them involved the rug pull scheme;
- BSC — 34 attacks, 24 of which were rug pulls;
- Base — Coinbase’s new Layer 2 network for Ethereum was exploited by attackers six times, four of which were rug pull schemes.
In Q2 2023, hackers stole about $314 million worth of digital assets. Chainalysis analysts estimated that North Korean cybercriminals were behind every third hacker attack this year.
