Crypto Scammers Loot $370 Million in January, Says CertiK

Crypto News Exploits

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: February 02, 2026

Key Takeaways

Crypto thefts reached $370 million in January 2026, the highest monthly total in nearly a year and almost four times the January 2025 total;
One social engineering scam took $284 million, and phishing scams added $311 million more to the total losses.
Step Finance lost $28.9 million after a breach, while a flaw in Truebit’s smart contract led to $26.4 million in damages.

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Crypto Scammers Loot $370 Million in January, Says CertiK

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Crypto thefts and scams caused heavy losses in January 2026, with stolen funds reaching $370.3 million, the highest monthly amount in almost a year.

According to CertiK, this was nearly four times higher than in January 2025.

Of the 40 reported incidents, most of the money came from a single case in which scammers used social engineering to steal about $284 million. Phishing also resulted in around $311.3 million in losses for victims.

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CertiK noted that this was the biggest monthly loss since February 2025, when hackers stole $1.5 billion, including the $1.4 billion Bybit $4.07B hack.

Compared to the previous year, January’s total jumped by 277% from $98 million and by 214% from December’s $117.8 million.

PeckShield, a cybersecurity group, highlighted that the Step Finance breach was the largest single hack of the month.

Attackers compromised several of the company’s treasury wallets and took $28.9 million, including more than 261,000 Solana SOL $102.79 tokens.

The second-biggest exploit targeted the Truebit protocol on January 8. A flaw in its smart contract allowed someone to mint tokens almost for free, which led to $26.4 million in losses and a drop in the price of the Truebit (TRU) token.

Recently, TRM Labs reported that crypto scammers made major use of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2025. What did the firm say? Read the full story.