TL;DR
- Pink Drainer Shutdown: The hacker group Pink Drainer has ceased operations, leaving behind a trail of damage with an estimated $75M to $85M stolen from over 21,000 users through social media, Discord infiltrations, and fake sites.
- Business Model & Impact: Beyond heists, Pink Drainer sold drainer services for 5 ETH, contributing to random, uncoordinated attacks. Despite their shutdown, they still hold a significant amount of SavingsDAI (sDAI), with minimal impact on Spark Protocol’s $2.36B TVL.
- Future Threats & Restitution: Pink Drainer offered limited restitution to victims, but fund recovery remains uncertain. The crypto community faces ongoing threats from entities like Inferno Drainer and must stay vigilant against wallet drainers and scams.
Pink Drainer, a notorious drainer-as-a-service hacker group, has declared its operations ceased, erasing all data and leaving the crypto community to assess the damage.
#Pinkdrainer #Tapswap $PONKE $WIF #fakephishing #drainer #walletdrainer pic.twitter.com/wl7YgKVVM9
— Pink Drainer | pink-drainer.eth (@pinkdrainer_) May 18, 2024
Throughout its active period, Pink Drainer specialized in targeting specific communities and high-value wallets, with stolen funds estimated between $75M and $85M.
The group’s modus operandi involved three primary attack vectors: compromising high-profile social media accounts, infiltrating Discord and chat groups, and deploying fake sites to trick users into connecting their wallets.
Their tactics led to over 21,000 users losing valuable NFTs and fungible tokens across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Avalanche, BSC, Polygon, Optimism, Gnosis, and Callisto Network.
The Business Model Behind the Heists
Interestingly, Pink Drainer’s revenue stream wasn’t solely from the heists but also from selling access to their drainer service for 5 ETH, granting lifetime usage. This decentralized approach meant that the hacks were random rather than coordinated, relying on the outreach of their service users.
These users, semi-anonymous yet active on social media, were not discreet about their on-chain activities, with some even transferring funds to Binance for swapping.
Despite the shutdown, Pink Drainer remains a significant holder of SavingsDAI (sDAI), a token from Spark Protocol, which boasts a total value locked (TVL) of $2.36B. The impact of Pink Drainer’s holdings on Spark Protocol is minimal, given the support from other large wallets and exchanges.
A Glimmer of Hope for Victims
In a surprising turn, Pink Drainer has offered restitution for affected users, albeit with a time limit of the past eight months. However, the recovery of funds is uncertain, as Pink Drainer has begun moving assets, with some ETH parked in idle addresses and others transacted through privacy-focused DeFi services like Railgun WETH Helper.
The Persistent Threat of Wallet Drainers
Despite Pink Drainer’s exit, the threat to the crypto community persists. Warnings of copycats and new wallet-connecting scams are rampant, with social media accounts of major projects advising users of their non-direct contact policies.
Inferno Drainer, another malicious entity, remains active and has already surpassed Pink Drainer with over $166M in stolen funds.
As the crypto world grapples with these security challenges, the question remains: Is the threat truly over, or will it resurface in a new guise? Only time will tell if the community can fortify itself against such exploits and restore trust in the decentralized finance landscape.
