Following six days of dormancy, the pilfered crypto assets from a recent $71 million wallet impersonation scam have sprung into action, with the thief dispersing the funds across various crypto wallets.

On May 3, a staggering $71 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) was transferred to a bait wallet address in a wallet impersonation scam, leaving an investor as the unfortunate victim. The scammer capitalized on the subtle differences in alphanumeric characters to deceive the investor, who mistakenly sent 97% of their assets to the fraudulent address. This classic tactic of wallet poisoning often goes undetected, as investors typically verify addresses based on the first and last few characters, overlooking discrepancies in the middle.

Immediately converting the 1,155 WBTC to approximately 23,000 ETH, the scammer opted for the familiar route of laundering the stolen funds. After lying dormant for six days, blockchain investigation firm PeckShield observed the movement of the ill-gotten gains on May 8. The scammer commenced the process of breaking down the stolen funds and distributing them across multiple crypto wallets in a bid to obfuscate their origins.

Employing around 400 crypto wallets as conduits, the scammer meticulously dispersed the pilfered funds into over 150 wallets, with the aim of reducing traceability. Despite the elaborate effort, the trail still leads back to the elusive perpetrator, underscoring the ongoing challenges in combating crypto scams and fraud.

Notably, the surge in crypto-related scams during bullish market conditions remains a persistent challenge. To navigate the evolving landscape of crypto security, readers are encouraged to explore Cointelegraph’s comprehensive guide on safeguarding cryptocurrencies.

In a separate development, a novel scam tactic has emerged, enabling malicious actors to drain users' wallets without requiring transaction approval. Exploiting tokens adhering to the ERC-2612 token standard, the scam leverages "gas-less" transfers, enabling transactions without ETH in the wallet. However, users must be lured into signing a message to facilitate approval-less transactions, as evidenced by a recent scam orchestrated through a fraudulent Telegram group featuring a counterfeit Collab.Land Telegram verification system.