Forgotten Wallet Approval Lets Scammer Drain $900K in USDC

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Forgotten Wallet Approval Lets Scammer Drain Over $900,000 in USDC

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: August 04, 2025

Key Takeaways

A scammer stole $908,551 in USDC by using a token approval signed 458 days earlier;
The wallet stayed empty for over a year until two large deposits triggered the theft;
Scam Sniffer urged users to review and revoke old approvals to protect their funds.

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Forgotten Wallet Approval Lets Scammer Drain Over $900,000 in USDC

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A scammer stole over $900,000 from a crypto wallet by using an old token approval that had been quietly sitting for more than a year, according to the security firm Scam Sniffer.

Scam Sniffer shared the details in an August 2 post on X that the loss was linked to a transaction signed back on April 30, 2024.

At the time, the wallet owner unknowingly approved access for another wallet, most likely through a fake website or false airdrop. This approval allowed the scammer to move tokens from the wallet at any time, without needing new permission.

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For more than a year, the wallet remained mostly empty, with no reason for the attacker to act. That changed on July 2, 2025, when the victim added $762,397 in USDC from a MetaMask account. Ten minutes later, another $146,154 came in from a Kraken $242.27M wallet.

On August 2, 2025, at 04:57 AM UTC, the scammer drained the entire wallet in a single transaction. The stolen funds, worth $908,551 in USDC USDC $0.9968 , were sent to a wallet tied to the group known as pink-drainer.eth.

Scam Sniffer noted that the victim had signed the approval 458 days before the theft.

The firm reminded crypto users to review and cancel token permissions that are no longer needed. "Your wallet security matters", it added.

Recently, Darktrace, a cybersecurity firm, warned that scammers are using fake startups to steal cryptocurrency from unsuspecting users. What did the report say? Read the full story.