New Crypto Scam ‘Vanilla Drainer’ Steals $5 Million Within Weeks

A new threat has shaken the crypto industry. Within just three weeks, a scam platform called Vanilla Drainer has syphoned over $5 million in digital assets. Investigators warn that, despite overall declines in large-scale crypto thefts since 2024, scammers are adapting quickly with new tactics.

A New Player in the Crypto Crime Scene

Drainers are illicit services that sell scam toolkits to fraudsters. They work by setting up phishing websites and malicious smart contracts that trick victims into giving away wallet access. Once funds are approved, the assets are drained and rapidly converted into tokens that are harder to trace or freeze.

Vanilla Drainer fits this model perfectly, but with sharper strategies. Blockchain investigator Darkbit has linked the service to $5.27 million stolen between July 15 and August 5, 2025. He notes that many former users of Inferno Drainer, a once-dominant player, are shifting to Vanilla after its rise earlier this year.

Draining scams had peaked in 2024, costing victims nearly $500 million overall. The spread of fraud-detection tools like Blockaid slowed many such services. Yet Vanilla appears to bypass these safeguards, bringing it into sudden prominence.

Major Thefts Linked to Vanilla Drainer

One of the most alarming thefts occurred on August 5, 2025, when a single victim lost $3.09 million in stablecoins. Investigators believe Vanilla Drainer itself kept a cut of around $463,000, roughly 17% of the total.

In July alone, phishing scams surged by 153% compared to June, stealing over $7 million from more than 9,000 victims. Data links Vanilla to about 30% of that total, including a case where a victim lost $1.23 million.

According to blockchain traces, funds drained through Vanilla often pass through a dedicated fee wallet. At least $2.23 million currently sits in one such address, mostly in Ethereum (ETH) and DAI stablecoins. Using DAI is deliberate: unlike centralised tokens such as USDT or USDC, it cannot be frozen, making recovery difficult.

Earlier records show Vanilla’s first known activity dates back to October 2024, while its earliest advertisement appeared in December 2024. That promotion claimed the platform could dodge Blockaid’s protections, a bold statement now supported by multiple scam incidents.

How Vanilla Stays Ahead

Scammers behind Vanilla use several techniques to evade detection. They rotate domains quickly, preventing investigators from tracking them for long. They also deploy freshly created malicious contracts for each phishing site. This constant churn leaves fewer breadcrumbs for anti-fraud tools to follow. Darkbit observed this trend firsthand: “Fresh malicious contracts are being created for every site. They avoid staying on the radar.”

This adaptability explains Vanilla’s sudden rise in a market that many believed was shrinking. Although draining volumes have declined since 2024 due to better wallet protections, drainers are adjusting faster than expected.

Investigators believe this is not just a temporary surge. The market for drainers rarely disappears. Inferno Drainer, for instance, announced its closure in late 2023 yet later resurfaced, causing losses above $9 million into 2025. History shows that these services often rebrand, sell their tools, or merge with others instead of vanishing completely.

Lasting Threat to the Crypto Ecosystem

Vanilla Drainer’s swift rise is alarming but not surprising. Within just three weeks, this service has stolen more than $5 million, overtaking older drainers with sophisticated evasive tactics. Its dominance, accounting for roughly a third of phishing thefts in July, proves that crypto scams remain a formidable threat.

While overall draining volumes are lower than 2024, Vanilla shows that criminals continue to innovate. The battle between drainer services and fraud-detection tools is far from over. For individual users, vigilance and strong self-protection measures remain the only reliable defence against schemes that refuse to die.

Written By Fazal Ul Vahab C H

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