Inferno Drainer, the “malware-as-a-service” product that helps malicious actors drain funds from crypto wallets, plans to shut down for good.
In a Nov. 26 Telegram post, the account behind Inferno Drainer said the team had decided to shut down, noting that servers would remain running so its users could transition to a new service.
“Inferno is closed for good and won’t return again,” said the team.
“We hope you can remember us as the best drainer that has ever existed and that we succeeded in helping you in the quest of making money,” they added.
Inferno Drainer announces shutdown after draining over $70M from ~103K victims. pic.twitter.com/8DwtckleiZ
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) November 27, 2023
Web3 security firm Scam Sniffer highlighted that Inferno Drainer had helped steal more than $70 million worth of crypto from 103,767 victims across blockchains.
The service works by charging 20% to 30% of the amount of stolen assets in exchange for providing its wallet draining script. Blockchain security analysts estimate that Inferno Drainer has made as much as $20 million from its so-called drainer fees.
Earlier this week, rumors began to fly that one of the founders of the Blast protocol had ties to the Inferno Drainer. Loch, a blockchain portfolio analytics firm, looked into the on-chain data and concluded that the Blast founder’s address and Inferno Drainer were not actually connected.
We heard rumors that the @Blast_L2 bridge is linked to the Inferno Drainer.
Here's what we found after analyzing the on-chain data.
One of the BLAST founders is connected to a Binance Deposit address that has connections with Inferno drainer. This is correct.
BUT that Binance… pic.twitter.com/YmVN3Xk5VB
— Loch (@loch_chain) November 26, 2023
Inferno Drainer rose in popularity after a similar service Monkey Drainer shut shop in March, saying it was “time to move on to something better.”
Although two of the most popular drainer services have now closed down, scam-as-a-service operators like Pink Drainer and Angel Drainer continue to operate and have collectively helped drain more than $12 million worth of crypto.