Phishing

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Overview

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Types of Crypto Phishing

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Website Phishing

• Fake websites mimicking legitimate projects
• Often use similar domain names (typosquatting)
• Clone the UI of popular dApps

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Social Engineering

• Impersonating team members or support staff
• Fake “verification” or “account issues”
• Urgency tactics to pressure quick action

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Airdrop Scams

• Unsolicited tokens appearing in wallets
• Links to “claim” more tokens
• Interacting triggers malicious contracts

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DNS Hijacking

• Attackers compromise DNS records
• Legitimate domain points to malicious site
• Very difficult to detect

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Detection Indicators

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Red Flags

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URL Warning Signs

• Misspelled domain names (uniswap → un1swap)
• Extra characters (opensea-claim.com)
• Different TLD (.io instead of .com)
• Subdomains used deceptively (uniswap.malicious.com)

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Communication Red Flags

• Unsolicited DMs about “opportunities”
• Requests for seed phrases or private keys
• “Limited time” urgency pressure
• Requests to “verify” your wallet

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Transaction Red Flags

• Unexpected approvals requested
• Transactions to unfamiliar contracts
• Higher gas fees than normal
• Multiple transactions bundled together

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API Example

# Check an address for phishing activity
curl -X GET "https://api.webacy.com/addresses/0x123...?chain=eth" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

# Check a URL for phishing
curl -X POST "https://api.webacy.com/url" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://suspicious-site.com"}'

{
  "overallRisk": 90.0,
  "issues": [
    {
      "tag": "phishing_activities",
      "severity": "high",
      "description": "Address involved in phishing activities. Proceed with extreme caution."
    }
  ]
}

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Protection Strategies

1. Bookmark official sites - Never click links from messages
2. Verify announcements - Check official Twitter/Discord for news
3. Use URL checkers - Our URL Risks endpoint
4. Enable 2FA - On all exchange and service accounts
5. Never share seeds - No legitimate service will ever ask
6. Check contract addresses - Verify against official documentation