Secret Service and Canadian Authorities Disrupt $4.3M Ethereum Scam in ‘Operation Avalanche’
The United States Secret Service has partnered with Canadian authorities in a coordinated effort to dismantle a sophisticated Ethereum-based scam that defrauded victims of over $4.3 million.
The cross-border operation, dubbed “Operation Avalanche,” focused on combating a rising threat known as “approval phishing.”
Cross-Border Collaboration Targets Ethereum Wallet Fraud
In a statement released Wednesday, the Secret Service announced its collaboration with the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC), Canadian law enforcement, blockchain analytics firms, and several crypto trading platforms. The joint effort aimed to track compromised Ethereum wallets and alert victims who unknowingly granted malicious actors access to their digital funds.
“Once identified, the owners of those compromised wallets are warned that they are victims of a scam, known as ‘approval phishing,’” the agencies said in a joint statement.
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What Is Approval Phishing?
Approval phishing is a form of crypto scam in which fraudsters trick users into approving malicious transactions, granting attackers the ability to drain assets from their wallets. These scams often use deceptive links, fake websites, or social engineering to lure victims into authorizing wallet access.
The wallets targeted in Operation Avalanche were found to have lost millions in digital assets due to such schemes.
Kosta Gushterov
Reporter at Coindoo
Kosta has been a part of the team since 2021 and has solidified his position with a thirst for knowledge, incredible dedication to his work and a "detective-like" mindset. He not only covers a wide range of trending topics, he also creates reviews, PR articles and educational content. His work has also been referenced by other news outlets.
