Creator Of The Pink Drainer Crypto Scam That Stole Millions of Dollars Has No Remorse: Report

The infamous crypto-hacking group Pink Drainer has carried out highly sophisticated phishing scams causing losses of over millions of dollars. Such ‘Drainer Kit’ scams have become a top concern in the crypto scape as unethical developers are selling these malicious tools by offering scam-as-a-service tools, according to Blowfish. Recently, the developers behind the Pink Drainer scam spoke to the Cointelegraph Magazine revealing some shocking details.

What is the Pink Drainer Kit scam?

In general, a wallet drainer scam works by tricking users into authorizing malicious transactions that drain the crypto assets from their crypto wallets. This happens when users click on malicious links, fall for false advertisements, or trust phishing scams that promote disguised malicious links.

In the case of Pink Drainer, it is a threat group that predominantly carries out phishing-oriented attacks. The scams have targeted the social media accounts of several prominent figures to promote dubious campaigns and steal money.

The scale of the scam

The Pink Drainer kit has facilitated scams that stole over $18 million from over 9,000 victims, in the past year. However, the developer who goes by the pseudonym Pink, contacted the Cointelegraph Magazine and requested a correction saying the kit had stolen over $53 million. The scam has targeted the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder along with prominent public figures like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, whose social media accounts were exploited in Pink Drainer-linked phishing schemes.

In one case alone, a victim was drained of $4.33 million worth of LINK (Chainlink), according to on-chain data. The scam exploited the Increase Approval transaction function according to Crypto Potato. The Increase Approval function is a standard procedure that allows crypto investors to set limits on the number of tokens accessible for transfer by another wallet.

The Creator of Pink Drainer Kit Has No Regrets

The developer of the drainer kit who contacted the Magazine has an intriguing history. A pseudonymous security researcher known as Plum told the magazine that Pink also worked as a security researcher before engaging in the development of drainer kits. He could have also been pretending to be a security researcher to get a better look at some of the security projects, Plum said in the report. Before taking on the name Pink, the developer was known as Blockdev in the crypto space. He regularly attempted DDoS attacks or hacks against another drainer called “Monkey”, which retired in March 2023, directing its client to Vemon Drainer.

There are no victims of the drainer scam as the developer prefers calling them “participants” instead. Pink added that most "participants" were Chinese who aren’t supposed to be doing anything in the DeFi space as it is banned in the country. “Some westerners get caught in the crossfire,” Pink told Cointelegraph Magazine. Furthermore, the developer claims to feel no guilt or remorse for benefiting from the losses of "participants,” saying that it is natural for someone to lose money for another person to gain. “I don’t phish anyone, I just code,” Pink said in the report.

Here’s how Pink manages finances

Pink told Cointelegraph Magazine that he prefers keeping his gains in the form of Dai, an algorithmic stablecoin that is pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar. According to the publication, an Ethereum wallet with a “Pink Drainer” label contains over $4.49 million in Dai as of March 8. Pink expressed that there are immediate intentions to convert earnings to fiat, saying that they would instead “watch the pile grow.” Pink may face some troubles while cashing in his Dai as global crypto regulations and KYC requirements at centralized exchanges pose hurdles in the way of liquidating assets. However, Plum says there are still plenty of alternative channels that Pink can utilize.