An increase of 1900% in phishing scam thefts has been reported on the Ethereum layer 2 Base from January to March. According to Scam Sniffer, approximately $3.35 million was stolen from phishing scammers on Base in March alone.

This surge marks a 334% month-on-month increase from February and a massive 1,880% spike compared to January figures. Binance’s BNB Chain also saw a similar surge in phishing scams in March.

Furthermore, across all chains, about $71.5 million was lost to phishing scammers from 77,529 victims in March, surpassing the amounts lost in January and February. Scam Sniffer highlighted that phishing links from fake X accounts are a common tactic, with over 1,500 incidents detected in March.

The rise in Base phishing scams coincides with a memecoin craze on the Coinbase-backed chain, leading to Base's total locked value exceeding $3.2 billion in 2024. Despite this increase in phishing scams, crypto hack thefts dropped by 48% to $187.2 million in March, with the majority of the recoveries linked to the Munchibles exploit.

Curio's MakerDAO-based smart contract experienced a $40 million loss, and Prisma Finance fell victim to an $11.6 million hack, with negotiations ongoing with the hacker to return the funds.*zachXBT was involved in the recovery process of stolen funds from the Munchibles exploit.

Cointelegraph reached out to Scam Sniffer for further details on the phishing scam surge reported on Base.