The infamous crypto-hacking group Pink Drainer has been implicated in a highly sophisticated phishing scam that led to a loss of $4.4 million worth of Chainlink (LINK) tokens.

This recent cyber heist targeted a single victim who fell prey to a deceptive tactic that led to the signing of a transaction linked to the ‘Increase Approval’ function.

Pink Drainer Exploits ‘Increase Approval’ Function

The ‘Increase Approval’ function is a standard procedure in the crypto world, allowing users to set limits on the number of tokens accessible for transfer by another wallet.

Without the victim’s knowledge, this action enabled the unauthorized transfer of 275,700 LINK tokens in two distinct transactions.

another victim lost $4.4 million worth of LINK to phishing scams about 2 hours ago.https://t.co/B4Z3yWrH7e https://t.co/6n6m0lZQK4 pic.twitter.com/6zSWTp8G6d

— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) December 29, 2023

Details from Scam Sniffer, a crypto-security platform, revealed that the tokens were drained in two separate transfers.

Initially, 68,925 LINK tokens were diverted to a wallet tagged by Etherscan as “PinkDrainer: Wallet 2.” The remainder, amounting to 206,775 LINK, was sent to a different address ending with “E70e.”

ZachXBT, a renowned crypto detective, has also disclosed that the stolen funds were quickly converted into Ethereum (ETH) and laundered through the eXch service, complicating the traceability of the assets.

“The stolen funds were sold for ETH and are currently being laundered through eXch,” he stated.

$4.4 Million Chainlink Heist Linked to Pink Drainer

Scam Sniffer’s investigation confirms the involvement of the Pink Drainer group in this heist, although the exact method used to coerce the victim into authorizing the token transfer remains unclear.

Scam Sniffer has also identified at least 10 new scam sites connected to Pink Drainer in the last 24 hours alone.

The Pink Drainer syndicate, notorious for its high-profile attacks on platforms such as Twitter and Discord, has been linked to incidents involving Evomos, Pika Protocol, and Orbiter Finance.

Earlier this year, they were also implicated in a scam posing as crypto journalists, leading to the theft of approximately $3 million from over 1,932 victims.

The latest data from Dune Analytics indicates an escalation in Pink Drainer’s activities, with total losses amounting to $18.7 million, affecting 9,068 victims as of December 19.