Angel Drainer reportedly shuts down after devs potentially identified

Notorious crypto phishing app Angel Drainer has reportedly been shut down by its developers after they were potentially identified, according to a July 16 report from blockchain security firm Match Systems.

Security analysts have previously blamed Angel Drainer for over $25 million in crypto losses from phishing scams.

Drainer programs are apps that allow phishing scammers to easily drain the wallets of crypto users by tricking them into accidentally making token approvals. In most cases, drainers are provided to scammers in exchange for a portion of the stolen loot the scammers acquire.

On February 5, Blockchain security firm Blockaid reported that phishing scammers had used Angel Drainer to steal more than $25 million from 35,000 individual crypto users.

At approximately 4 pm UTC on July 16, Match Systems announced on X that it had made progress on “Deanonymization of Angel Drainer Members,” implying that it had discovered the identities of the app’s developers. It asked victims to report any information they have, in order to “help advance the investigation.”

Approximately four hours later, the firm announced that it had discovered evidence that Angel Drainer had shut down. “Update: Angel Drainer has suspended operations!” the post stated. “Two hours after our publication about the de-anonymization of Angel Drainer members, their telegram channel reported that Drainer was suspended.”

The post contained a screenshot of Angel Drainer users complaining on Telegram that the app no longer works. “Drainer is down brothers, calculatin wrong value, no prom[p]ts,” one user stated. Another responded “it’s not taking money!” Yet another user claimed that it was “crazy” that the app required the developer to “work manually.”

Cointelegraph obtained a higher resolution copy of the image directly from Match Systems.

Angel Drainer isn’t the only drainer app to shut down recently. On May 17, Pink Drainer announced that it was ceasing operations after having stolen $85 million in funds from crypto users. On April 25, crypto security firm Blockaid reported that Violet Drainer had also shut down.

In the case of Violet Drainer, the developer reportedly announced that draining users was getting to be too difficult as Ethereum wallets have gotten better at detecting scams and warning users.

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