In a massive international effort involving Chainalysis and police departments across six countries, a major crackdown was launched against “Approval Phishing” scams.
- The Scam: Scammers tricked victims into signing a transaction that gave the attacker permission to spend tokens from the victim’s wallet.
- The Recovery: During a series of “operational sprints,” investigators identified over $162 million in stolen funds. By working directly with stablecoin issuers like Tether, they were able to freeze thousands of accounts. In one specific instance, a victim in the UK had $1.2 million returned after the stolen USDT was frozen just hours after the theft.