The escalation of phishing scams on Base by nearly 1,900% since January has occurred concurrently with a surge in total value locked on the Ethereum layer-2 chain.

Recent data reveals an astonishing 18-fold increase in cryptocurrency funds lost to phishing scams on Ethereum layer 2 Base in March compared to figures from January. According to blockchain anti-scam platform Scam Sniffer, phishing scammers siphoned approximately $3.35 million from Base users in March alone.

This represents a substantial 334% month-on-month rise from February's total of $773,900 and an astronomical 1,880% spike compared to the relatively modest $169,000 lost to phishing scams in January. These statistics, derived from monthly Dune Analytics data compiled by Scam Sniffer, underscore the alarming proliferation of phishing scams on the Base platform.

Interestingly, a similar surge in phishing scams was observed on Binance's BNB Smart Chain in March, as noted by Scam Sniffer in an April 2 post on X. Across all chains, approximately $71.5 million was lost to phishing scams in March, impacting 77,529 victims—a significant increase from January and February's tallies of $58.3 million and $46.8 million, respectively.

Scam Sniffer anticipates a further uptick in phishing attacks on Base as the chain's assets and active user base continue to expand. Notably, phishing links originating from fake X accounts remain a prevalent tactic, with over 1,500 incidents detected by Scam Sniffer in March alone.

The surge in Base phishing scams coincides with a recent surge in meme coin fervor on the Coinbase-backed chain, driving Base's total value locked to surpass $3.2 billion—a remarkable 370% increase since the beginning of 2024, according to data from L2Beat.

While phishing scams have surged, instances of crypto hacks experienced a notable decline of 48% to $187.2 million in March, according to a recent post on X by blockchain security firm PeckShield. This figure considers the $98.8 million that was successfully recovered over the month.

Most of these recoveries stemmed from the $97 million Munchibles exploit, where cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT played a pivotal role as a custodian in recovering the stolen funds. However, incidents such as Curio's MakerDAO-based smart contract losing $40 million and Prisma Finance falling victim to an $11.6-million hack serve as stark reminders of the persistent threat posed by cyberattacks in the crypto space.