Cross-Chain Bridge Security Service Phishing Scam: Fake Asset Security Scanning Tools Used to Induce Authorization and Steal Tokens

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are primarily active cryptocurrency holders and frequent users of cross-chain bridges. These individuals typically hold a certain scale of on-chain assets, possess basic decentralized finance interaction experience, but lack a deep understanding of the underlying smart contracts permissions. They are generally prone to security anxiety; once they see suggestions from so-called asset security checks or authorization cleanup tools, they easily lower their guard out of the instinctive motivation to protect their assets, blindly signing authorizations in highly realistic interfaces and having their wallet assets instantly drained by hackers.

骗局怎么运作

• Scammers first run paid ads on mainstream search engines or leverage the buzz of well-known cross-chain bridges to publish articles, packaging phishing links as cross-chain asset security audit tools or one-click authorization limit cleaners. They heavily mimic the interface elements and branding materials of official websites for well-known cross-chain protocols and security companies, leading users to mistake them for official new security services.
• Upon clicking and entering the phishing website, users are immediately greeted with a high-urgency security warning popup indicating that their wallets face high-risk authorization vulnerabilities, and even forged scanning screenshots showing suspicious signing records are displayed. They claim that unless users immediately perform asset security migration through their cross-chain bridge, the tokens inside the wallet will be automatically drained and transferred by hackers within minutes.
• Driven by panic, users click to start the security scan or one-click migrate to the security bridge, prompting the Web3 wallet to request interaction. This smart contract is actually a maliciously constructed unlimited authorization contract, with parameters deliberately hidden or disguised in the wallet popup as a test request consuming only a minimal amount of gas, using forged security update rhetoric in the notes to trick users into clicking confirm.
• After the user blindly signs and confirms, the scammers' backend robot immediately listens to the on-chain authorization event. Once it detects that the victim's address has approved unlimited stablecoins or other token authorizations to the malicious contract, the robot drains all authorized assets from the user's wallet by extracting the tokens within seconds and transferring them to a temporary aggregation address controlled by the scammers, completing an instant pillaging.
• Once the assets are in hand, the scammers immediately transfer them through multi-layer cross-chain protocols to scattered addresses across different public chains, and route them through numerous mixers for laundering. The phishing cross-chain bridge security service script is subsequently destroyed and canceled, the webpage directly expires and redirects, and the hackers package and sell this set of interface templates on the dark web to other grey-industry syndicates, forming a mass-produced phishing black-market supply chain.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 A stranger in social media direct messages claims they can help you detect cross-chain bridge asset risks and proactively sends an unfamiliar web link asking you to connect your wallet for security scanning or authorization cleanup operations.
• 🚩 A fake security service website asks users to perform unlimited quota authorization operations on unknown smart contracts, or displays only simple fields in popups to deliberately conceal the source address of the authorization contract and transaction amount information.
• 🚩 The promotional page contains numerous spelling errors or the website domain name looks extremely suspicious. Although disguised as an official mirror version of a well-known security audit agency or cross-chain protocol, the footer lacks the genuine social media links and official website verification badges of the legitimate team.
• 🚩 The entire security check or cross-chain migration process completely lacks any displayed code audit reports or code logic on authoritative open-source platforms, relying solely on a visually exquisite and intimidating interface to induce operations.
• 🚩 The webpage heavily relies on manufacturing fear, utilizing urgent tactics such as high-stakes countdowns or flashing warnings to demand that users connect their wallets and confirm within minutes or even tens of seconds, otherwise all assets will be immediately stolen by hackers.

真实案例

• In August 2023, CertiK detected a counterfeit phishing attack targeting the Arc cross-chain bridge. Hackers forged the Onbridge cross-chain bridge platform page, masquerading as a cross-chain security service tool to induce wallet connection. A victim developer mistakenly believed it was a security verification service and performed authorization operations, resulting in 87,000 USD worth of USDC in the wallet being instantly transferred and stripped.
• In March 2026, the Gangbuk Police Station in Seoul, South Korea, in joint operations with Vietnamese police, cracked a major phishing case involving up to 800 million Korean Won (approx. 4.3 million RMB). The criminal syndicate constructed a fake high-yield investment platform and stole victims' Tether via smart contract authorization mechanisms. Anti-phishing technical expert Lu Di pointed out that the lack of granularity in permission management is currently the biggest shortcoming in wallet interaction security. (Source: [https://developer.cloud.tencent.com/article/2634581](https://developer.cloud.tencent.com/article/2634581))
• In August 2026, ChainUP's Trustformer reported a cryptocurrency staking mining scam: scammers operated trust relationships over long periods through social platforms, and victims entering fake investment scenarios were induced to sign contract interaction requests. Over 30 victims have been confirmed affected, with involved amounts exceeding 3 million RMB, and some individual losses surpassing 300,000 RMB. (Source: [https://www.trustformer.info/zh/s-articles/article872](https://www.trustformer.info/zh/s-articles/article872)）

Official Stance

• On January 15, 2024, CertiK issued a security early warning pointing out that a large number of phishing websites counterfeiting well-known cross-chain protocols and security services had recently appeared, reminding users not to rashly click unknown links to connect wallets, and urging them to verify contract addresses and limit authorization quotas before authorizing.
• On March 22, 2024, SlowMist blockchain security company released an anti-fraud warning exposing a novel phishing technique that uses fake security verifications to induce wallet authorization, explicitly warning users to beware of new authorization scams under the guise of asset cleanup and security detection.
• On March 25, 2024, Tencent Cloud Developer Community teamed up with a security blog to release a technical anti-phishing guide, thoroughly dissecting the full-link mechanism of multi-asset encryption platform counterfeit phishing attacks, and reminding the public to guard against blind-signing fraud under the pretext of security protection and cross-chain detection.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ When searching for cross-chain bridges or security tools, strictly avoid clicking search result links marked with advertisements; instead, access verified official websites through jump links inside official Twitter homepages or authoritative open-source community platforms.
• ✅ Before connecting a wallet to perform any authorization interactions, mandate the use of professional tools to identify the target contract. If requests show unlimited privileges or abnormal contract behavior, immediately terminate interaction and disconnect the website from the wallet.
• ✅ Large assets must be permanently cold-stored in hardware wallets; never directly connect the main hardware wallet during regular cross-chain or security detection interactions. Daily operations should use isolated zero-balance hot wallets for prevention.
• ✅ Use regular and open-source verified authorization management tools to revoke redundant smart token authorizations. Any security cleanup tools or one-click unfreezing services recommended via social media direct messages should be treated uniformly as high-risk phishing links and blocked.