Crypto Hackers Stole $163M in August — Social Engineering Attack Leads Losses

[tradelikepro]

Crypto hackers and scammers stole over $163 million in August across 16 separate incidents, with one large-scale social engineering attack accounting for more than half the total, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield.

The figure marks a 15% increase from July’s $142 million in losses, though it remains 47% lower year-on-year.

High-Value Targets in the Crosshairs

PeckShield told Cointelegraph that August showed a clear strategic shift: hackers are moving away from smaller exploits and focusing on centralized exchanges and high-value individuals.

Two major incidents dominated:

Social Engineering Attack: A Bitcoiner lost 783 BTC (~$91M) after falling victim to bad actors posing as crypto exchange and hardware wallet support.

Btcturk Exchange Hack: Turkish exchange Btcturk lost $50M from its hot wallets — its second major breach since June 2024.

Despite the dollar amounts, the number of hacks has been gradually declining: 20 in June, 17 in July, and 16 in August.

“Looking at the broader picture, the total number of hacks has shown a decreasing trend… suggesting improvements in overall ecosystem security.” – PeckShield

Rising Prices, Rising Exploits

Hank Huang, CEO of Kronos Research, noted that crypto booms attract more sophisticated attacks:

Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $124,000 on Aug. 14.

Ether reached $4,946 on Aug. 24.

“August’s surge highlights how attackers are zeroing in on centralized wallets using phishing and social engineering to expose operational weaknesses,” Huang said.

What’s Next?

Losses had previously been trending downward — $385M in May → $176M in June → $142M in July — but August broke the pattern.

Huang warns that losses could keep rising through 2025, fueled by high crypto prices and lagging security improvements.

Still, advances in AI-driven security and stronger protective models could cushion future losses.

️ Takeaway

PeckShield emphasized that corporations and wealthy crypto holders should adopt the strongest possible security:

“High-value targets — both corporations and individuals — should be increasingly vigilant and proactively implement robust security measures.”

[Nahid10]

It’s crazy that one social engineering attack accounted for over half of all losses in August. No matter how strong protocols get, the human layer remains the weakest link. We can’t just focus on DeFi code audits — education and operational security for individuals and corporations are just as important.

[emranrx]

The Btcturk hack proves that centralized exchanges are still the #1 honey pot for attackers. Hot wallets will always be the Achilles’ heel. Until exchanges adopt fully segregated cold storage with AI-based monitoring, these breaches will keep repeating every bull run.

[jacson4]

I find it interesting that the number of hacks is going down, but the value of each attack is going up. Hackers are becoming more efficient, targeting whales and exchanges instead of spraying small DeFi exploits. It’s a scary trend because it concentrates risk in fewer, but more devastating, incidents.