A complete explanation of phishing attacks: From fake airdrops to wallet authorization, how can crypto users prevent it?

What exactly are phishing attacks about?

The word fishing comes from fishing - casting a net and waiting for fish to bite. Attackers do not rely on technical vulnerabilities to break into the system, but rely on pretending to be someone you trust and asking you to hand over things yourself: login password, bank card number, private key, and mnemonic phrase.

This thing has been around in cybersecurity for decades, but the tools are changing. AI writing tools can batch generate emails with natural tone and accurate address, and AI voice cloning can imitate your boss or family members on the phone. In the past, we relied on "grammatical errors and awkward wording" to judge suspicious emails, but now this experience is becoming less and less effective.

The risks faced by crypto users are even more unique. Transactions on the chain are irreversible, and once transferred, they cannot be returned. Therefore, the targets of phishing in the encryption circle are very focused: mnemonic phrases, private keys, and wallet authorization.

What do phishing emails usually look like?

The most common delivery channel is still mail. A phishing email might pretend to be from your bank, an exchange, or a well-known brand, and include a link to a fake website or an attachment that opens to install malware.

A few signs worth stopping to take a look at:

**The URL and shipping address are wrong. ** Read the full URL before clicking. Phishing sites often use subtle spelling differences, such as adding an extra letter to the name or using an unusual domain name suffix. Hover over the link to preview the actual destination address. In addition, an email claiming to represent a large company, but the sender is a public email address such as Gmail or Yahoo, is questionable in itself.

**Create a sense of urgency and fear. ** "Your account has been hacked", "Payment failed", "If you don't handle it immediately, you will be punished" - these kinds of words are deliberately intended to leave you too late to think about it. Legitimate organizations rarely ask you to take immediate action via email links.

**Requesting Sensitive Information. ** Regular services will not ask you for your password, mnemonic phrase, private key or complete bank card number via email, text message or chat. Whenever such a request appears, no matter how official the other party seems, it will be treated as suspicious.

What is the difference between phishing in encryption scenarios?

Ordinary phishing defrauds accounts, while encrypted phishing defrauds assets, which are often impossible to recover once successful.

Wallet Drainer is a relatively destructive category. You are tricked into connecting a wallet to a malicious website, or signing an authorized transaction, and the malicious smart contract then transfers the tokens, sometimes wiping out the balance within seconds. The key point here is: connecting the wallet and signature authorization itself is the attack surface.

Impersonating customer service is also very common. Someone claims to be an exchange customer service and asks you to submit a mnemonic phrase to "verify your identity." No formal platform will ask for your mnemonic phrase. As long as someone asks for it, the request is 100% fraudulent, without exception.

Fake airdrops and fake gifts are spread using social platforms. Attackers pretend to be well-known figures on X, Discord, and Telegram to promote non-existent airdrops or investment opportunities. Common methods are to steal authenticated accounts or create a fake account with an almost identical avatar and name. This method often overlaps with airdrop scams - using fake tokens to issue announcements to induce you to sign wallet authorization.

Users who operate frequently in the DeFi protocol or do P2P transactions have more wallet interactions and naturally have greater exposure.

There are more ways to phishing than just emails.

Spear Phishing Targets a specific person or organization. Attackers do their homework beforehand, using details such as names of colleagues, recent transactions, and job titles to make the message appear credible. The cost is higher, but the success rate is usually higher.

Whaling is a high-value version of spear phishing that targets executives, government officials, or people with deep pockets. These people have access to sensitive systems or large amounts of money, and the consequences will be more severe if they succeed.

Clone Phishing is to copy a real email and make it almost the same version, only replacing the links or attachments with malicious ones. Because the format is familiar, recipients tend to overlook the differences.

Smishing and Vishing are delivered by text message and phone call respectively. In voice phishing, attackers will pretend to be bank representatives, technical support, or even use AI cloned voices to impersonate family members. As the threshold for speech synthesis technology decreases, these two methods are becoming more and more common.

QR Code Phishing Use malicious QR codes to lead people to phishing websites. These codes may be posted in physical environments—posters, parking meters, restaurant menus—or they may be embedded in emails and documents. QR codes are opaque to the human eye, and many people don’t know where they will jump before scanning them.

Domain Pharming does not require you to click on any malicious links. The attacker taints DNS records and redirects you from the correct URL to a fake site. Because you enter the URL yourself, this type of attack is harder to detect and more dangerous than regular phishing.

Domain name squatting (Typosquatting) is the registration of a domain name that is highly similar to a regular website, achieved by spelling errors, character substitutions, or different top-level domain names. If you type a wrong letter with your fingers, you may end up on a fake website that looks exactly the same.

Watering Hole First find the websites frequently visited by the target group and inject malicious scripts into them. The next time the target visits the infected site, the script runs, possibly silently installing malware or stealing credentials.

The difference between phishing and domain name grafting

Some people classify domain name grafting as a type of phishing, but the two methods of operation are different. Phishing requires the victim to make a mistake: click on a fake link or enter their credentials on a fake site. Pharming only requires the victim to visit a URL that looks normal because the DNS records themselves have been tampered with.

This distinction has practical implications: pharming is harder to prevent on an individual level, and there are fewer verification steps you can do.

How to reduce the probability of getting hit every day

The most reliable tip: don’t click on links in unexpected messages. When you need to log in, directly enter the official website address in the browser address bar, or use your own saved bookmarks.

At the account level, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for all important accounts. In this way, even if the password is leaked, there is still a second door. Don’t use SMS verification codes if you can use an authenticator app – SMS codes can be intercepted through SIM card hijacking.

Enterprises can consider deploying email authentication standards such as DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) to verify whether the email actually comes from the domain name it claims to be.

On a personal level, telling family and friends about the techniques you know is a form of protection in itself. Regular safety training by companies can significantly reduce the probability of employees falling for the bait.

No measure is 100% effective. Technical tools coupled with continuous security awareness are the combination that reduces risks.

What to do if you are already infected?

Change passwords first, starting with the most important accounts. I haven’t opened a 2FA account yet, so I’ll add it now.

If you have connected your crypto wallet to a suspicious website, revoke previously granted authorization. Many people will forget this step, but if the authorization is not revoked, the risk will always be there.

Then report it to the platform being impersonated, and also report it to the cybersecurity agency of the country or region where you are located.

Regarding handling fees and rebates, what should readers check by themselves?

There is another type of loss often included in the fishing topic: you think you are trading normally, but the actual cost structure is different from what you understand. This part can only be used as a qualitative reminder. For specific figures, please refer to the official page of the platform.

Things you need to confirm include: what are the maker and taker rates for spot and contract respectively, what calibers are used to classify VIP levels, whether BNB deduction is applicable to your account type, and the settlement rules and payment methods for rebates or referral rewards. These terms will adjust, and the numbers in third-party tutorials often lag.

More importantly, any private message that claims to give you "internal rates" or "special rebate channels" should be treated as phishing. Formal cost discounts can be found in the account backend, and there is no need to go through the process through strangers.

FAQ

**What is fishing? ** A cyberattack technique in which criminals impersonate a trusted organization or individual to trick you into handing over your passwords, payment information, or encrypted mnemonic phrases. It is one of the most common forms of online fraud.

**What are the most common types of fishing? ** Email phishing, spear phishing (targeted attack), SMS phishing, voice phishing, clone phishing. Wallet skimming programs and fake giveaway scams are especially common in the crypto space.

**How ​​to identify phishing emails? ** Suspicious or misspelled sending addresses, urgent requests for personal information or passwords, unexpected links or attachments, content that creates fear or a sense of urgency. Hover the mouse over the link to preview the URL before clicking, and verify unexpected requests through official channels.

**What should you do if you suspect that you have been fished? ** Change your passwords immediately, starting with your most important accounts. Enable 2FA for accounts that don’t already have 2FA. If you have connected to a suspicious website, revoke the authorization granted. Report it to the platform being impersonated and to the cybersecurity agency of the country or region where it is located.

**Can phishing steal cryptocurrency? ** able. Cryptophishing can obtain mnemonic phrases, private keys or wallet authorizations. Since on-chain transactions are irreversible, the loss of funds is permanent. Common techniques include fake exchange login pages, stolen wallet smart contracts, and pretending to be customer service to ask for mnemonic verification.

Reference: Binance Academy "What Is Phishing? Types, Examples, and How to Stay Safe" https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/what-is-phishing

This article is a compilation of general information and does not constitute investment advice, nor does it represent Binance’s official position. Digital asset prices fluctuate greatly, please make your own judgment and bear the corresponding risks.