Crypto wallet-draining kit Inferno Drainer ceases operation after $70M crypto heist
Cryptocurrency wallet-draining service Inferno Drainer is permanently shutting down following its involvement in aiding phishing scammers who stole nearly $70 million worth of cryptocurrency this year.
Inferno Drainer gained popularity in early 2023 and became more prominent after the closure of Monkey Drainer in March. The tool, operating since February, reportedly drained almost $70 million from over 100,000 victims, although the team claimed the figure exceeded $80 million, per a report by security firm Scam Sniffer.
Like other services, Inferno Drainer offered software to drain crypto wallets and took a 20 percent share of the stolen amount from users. On November 26, the team announced the closure on Telegram, expressing gratitude to collaborators and users for their support in its “craziest journey.”
“A big thank to everyone who has worked with us, such as Drakan and every other customer, we hope you can remember us as the best drainer that has ever existed and that we succeeded in helping you in the quest of making money,” the post read.
However, despite shutting down, it pledged not to delete essential files and infrastructure to let the servers run for a swift transition to other services.
“We’re gonna leave the servers running so all of you to be able to make a smooth transition to the new service you’re going to choose. Feel free to split the not auto-splited assets,” it said.
Furthermore, the team took down its affiliated Telegram account, “mr_inferno_drainer,” which was utilized for its services. It warned its users to be cautious and not trust any other drainers using its name in the future.
Blockchain security firm CertiK revealed that Inferno Drainer was among the most harmful phishing kits within the community. The firm highlighted the presence of other active providers, such as Pink Drainer and Angel Drainer. Notably, Angel Drainer released an update on November 25, expanding its capabilities to assist users in draining wallets across multiple blockchains.
Inferno Drainer targets NFT collectors, investors
In just two months, Inferno Drainer has launched two attacks on crypto investors. In June, it stole six non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including Otherdeed for Otherside #55196, Moonbirds Oddities #1754, aKIDcalledBEAST #3974, and MERGE VV #3978 from the OpenSea NFT marketplace.
It continued targeting NFT collectors and crypto investors in August, with 13 NFTs stolen from the Blur NFT marketplace, per reports. Blockchain security company PeckShield confirmed this in a social media post.
Before the attacks in June and August, Scam Sniffer analyzed data from Mainnet, Arbitrum, BNB, and other chains. It identified 4,888 victims of Inferno Drainer, who collectively lost over $5.9 million in cryptocurrency and NFTs.
Data on etherscan.io reveals that Inferno Drainer has pilfered NFT collections, including Cool Cat #9951, Ordinal Kubz #1785, Cool Pets #9951, Beanz #18726, Kubz #2532, Kubz #7556, ProjectPXN #1020 and various Shadow Wolves NFT Collections. It also targeted prominent crypto brands such as Pepe, Collab, Land, zkSync, MetaMask, and Nakamigos.
Inferno Drainer demands 20 to 30 percent of the stolen assets as payment for the harmful software used to create fake websites. It reportedly has made over 689 phishing websites since March 27.
Inferno Drainer is one of several scam-as-a-service platforms in the crypto space. Scam Sniffer detected another platform named Venom Drainer earlier this year. In April, the operator of this scam drained $27 million from 15,000 victims. The top five victims collectively lost more than $14 million.
