Scammers create Blockworks clone site to drain crypto wallets

Phishing scammers have been spreading fake news of a $37 million dollar Uniswap exploit using a convincing fake Blockworks website.

Phishing scammers have cloned the websites of crypto media outlet Blockworks and Ethereum blockchain scanner Etherscan to trick unsuspecting readers into connecting their wallets to a crypto drainer.

A fake Blockworks site displays a fake “BREAKING” news report of a supposed multimillion-dollar “approvals exploit” on the decentralized exchange Uniswap and encourages users to a faked Etherscan website to rescind approvals.

The fake Uniswap news article was posted on Reddit across several popular crypto-related subreddits by seemingly compromised Reddit accounts.

*The fake Blockworks website (left) shows a fake breaking news story of a Uniswap exploit compared to the legitimate website (right).*

The fake Etherscan website, which display a purported token and smart contract approval checker, instead contains a wallet drainer.

Blockchain security firm Beosin reviewed the drainer’s smart contract and told Cointelegraph the attacker hopes to drain wallets with at least 0.1 Ether (ETH), worth $180. However, the drainer is incorrectly set up as “there is no phishing transaction prompted after a wallet is connected.”

*The phishing website (left) compared to the legitimate Etherscan website (right).*

An age check of the domains shows the fake Etherscan site, approvalscan.io, was registered on Oct. 25 and the faked Blockworks site, blockworks.media, was registered a day later.

In an Oct. 25 post on X (Twitter), Web3 anti-scam platform Scam Sniffer reported $190,000 in funds was drained from a crypto wallet with the victim signing a malicious signature.

the victim signed Uniswap Permit2 malicious phishing signatures like this pic.twitter.com/NcXIotokwL

— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) October 26, 2023

Scam Sniffer’s post shows phishing scammers deployed a wallet drainer on a website cloning the crypto news outlet Decrypt that prompts users to connect their wallet for an airdrop of the publication’s token.

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Update (Oct. 27, 1:30 am UTC): This article has been updated with further information and comment from Beosin.