In a surprising announcement on Telegram, the infamous crypto-wallet draining kit known as Pink Drainer revealed that it would be retiring after successfully assisting in the theft of over $85 million in crypto assets. When approached by Cointelegraph for comment, the developer of the encrypted messaging service channel, ‘Pink,’ declined to speak and simply said, “I do not wish to comment. Bye.” Subsequently, Pink deleted the entire chat record on Telegram.
The shutdown of the drainware service was confirmed by CryptoSleuth ZachXBT, who provided a screenshot of the final announcement made on the Pink Drainer Telegram channel. According to the screenshot, the service was shut down after stealing more than $75 million. PeckShieldAlert also reported on the shutdown and informed the community that Pink Drainer addresses had staked a total of up to 18.1 million $DAI into Spark, which accounted for approximately 1.35% of the total $sDAI tokens.
Dune Analytics revealed that since July 2023, a staggering amount of over $85 million has been stolen from more than 21,100 victims. This highlights the extent of the damage caused by Pink Drainer.
Interestingly, the Pink Drainer Telegram channel has undergone a rebranding and is now called “Bonadifier.” The channel features an image of Bonad, a drainer with a mental disability, along with the message, “never forget what he took from you.”
Pink Drainer’s cybercriminal toolkit was responsible for stealing $53 million from over 9,000 “participants” in 2023. The security researcher behind Pink Drainer defended the service, stating, “I don’t phish, I just code,” implying that their actions were solely focused on coding and not engaging in phishing activities.
For more information on phishing attacks and how to avoid online hacks, readers are encouraged to read Cointelegraph’s guide on crypto and artificial intelligence (AI).
The retirement of Pink Drainer follows a trend in the crypto-draining space, with other high-profile drainers like Inferno Drainer and Monkey Drainer shutting down after helping steal millions of dollars. However, the existence of drainers like Angel Drainer indicates that the threat is far from over. Angel Drainer, for instance, targeted users with a malicious Safe Vault contact and managed to steal over $400,000 from 128 crypto wallets. This serves as a reminder that crypto users must remain vigilant against potential threats.
In other news, Bybit’s Notcoin listing faced complications, and a Chinese firm saw a 1100% increase in profits after investing in crypto, as reported by Asia Express.