Crypto Scam Losses Drop to $28.8M in March After February Surge

Highlights:

• Crypto scam losses dropped to about $28.8 million after the over $1.5 billion loss suffered in February.
• Code vulnerabilities accounted for the highest losses in March.
• Hackers stole about $14.47 million through DeFi platforms.

Blockchain investigation platform Certik Alert reported a significant drop in crypto scam losses last month. According to the on-chain investigation platform, crypto hack losses dropped to about $28.8 million, a marked decline from the over $1.5 billion recorded in February.

Detailed Statistics on March Crypto Scam Losses

In an April 1 tweet, Certik Alert reported total crypto losses of $33.69 million in March. However, 1inch recovered roughly $4.8 million from last month’s hacking incident. This recovery reduced March’s net crypto losses to $28.8 million.

Certik Alert noted that the reported figure excluded the $32 million theft from a Coinbase user. ZachXBT, another blockchain investigation firm, confirmed this theft in a March 28 Telegram post. It reported that the unknown Coinbase user lost 400.099 BTC in the hacking incident.

ZachXBT added:

“After uncovering this theft, I noticed multiple other suspected thefts from Coinbase users in the past two weeks, bringing the total stolen this month to $46M+. Funds from each theft were bridged from Bitcoin to Ethereum via Thorchain / Chainfllip and swapped for DAI.”

Scam Technique with the Highest Losses Contribution in March

Code vulnerabilities accounted for the most losses last month. Certik Alert noted that hackers stole approximately $14.47 million through this method. Wallet compromise followed closely, with hackers stealing $8.85 million through the technique. Scammers also exploited access control flaws to steal $5.47 million.

Phishing accounted for a $4.54 million loss, while flash loan attacks aided in draining roughly $1.3 million. Flash loan attacks spiked in March, with hackers stealing $1.3 million compared to $1 million in January and $0.2 million in February. In contrast, scammers stole more funds via phishing in January. For context, phishing scams drained $8 million in January and $1.9 million in February.

#CertiKStatsAlert 🚨

Combining all the incidents in March we’ve confirmed ~$28.8M lost to exploits, hacks and scams after ~$4.8m was returned in the 1inch Resolver incident.

~$4.5M of the total is attributed to phishing.

Figures exclude the reported ~$32m theft from a… pic.twitter.com/Q2BHujUJpk

— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) March 31, 2025

Scammers Target DeFi Platforms in March

Certik Alert analysis shows Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platforms suffered the highest losses in March, totaling $27.07 million. Non-Fungible-Token (NFT) platforms accounted for a $737,321 loss.

Hackers also targeted Bridge protocols, Meme coins, and deflationary token projects. They stole $279,453, $210,150, and $138,189 through these platforms, respectively.

2025’s Q1 Recorded More Losses than 2024’s

PeckShieldArt, another renowned blockchain investigator, tweeted about crypto losses in March. It noted that this year’s first quarter (Q1) recorded over 60 crypto hacks, resulting in total losses of $1.63 billion. This represents a Year-over-Year increase (YoY) of 131% compared to $706M in 2024’s Q1. The Bybit hack incident, which resulted in a $1.46 billion loss, contributed to the massive surge in crypto losses this year.

#PeckShieldAlert Q1 2025 witnessed 60+ crypto hacks, resulting in total losses of $1.63B, a YoY increase of 131% compared to $706M in Q1 2024.

March 2025 recorded 20 crypto hacks, resulting in $33.46M in losses, including a $5M hack affecting #1inch, which was 90% recovered.… pic.twitter.com/Pg3fHpUvUp

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) April 1, 2025

PeckShieldArt also reported the top five hacks in March. They include the Abracadabra.money crypto heist, which resulted in a $13 million loss via Smart Contract exploits. Zoth, a restaking protocol, also suffered significant losses in March. Crypto2Community reported the hack incident in one of its old publications. According to the report, the restaking protocol lost $8.4 million in crypto assets after hackers accessed the protocol’s deployer wallet.

Other companies that suffered huge losses last month include 1inch, Hyperliquid, and WeKey. 1inch lost $5 million and later recovered 90% of the stolen funds. Hyperliquid lost $4 million, while hackers stole $700K from WeKey.