Ethereum Phishing Scam Drains $1M as BitMine Nears 5% Supply

A recent Ethereum phishing scam drained nearly $1 million from a user's wallet after they approved a malicious transaction.

The victim lost 999,999 Tether (USDT) after signing a fraudulent token approval request on Wednesday. Scam Sniffer reported that the attackers first attempted to transfer the exact amount but failed due to a slight discrepancy in the available balance. The attackers then recalculated and successfully withdrew every remaining token.

This is not an isolated incident, as blockchain security firm CertiK found that phishing scams caused $723 million in losses across 248 incidents in 2025. In these cases, attackers convinced users to approve malicious token permissions that later enabled unauthorized transfers.

Besides phishing attacks, researchers recently reported another major on-chain loss involving transaction routing. A trader lost nearly $2 million after a decentralized exchange routed an Ether swap through a low-liquidity pool.

Meanwhile, Ethereum treasury company BitMine disclosed that it now controls more than 5.74 million ETH, placing it close to its stated goal of owning 5% of Ethereum's total token supply.