It often starts the same way. A phone buzzes or an email lands, warning that a crypto account is at risk and urging immediate action. The language is urgent, the branding looks right, and panic does the rest. By the time the dust settles, the funds are gone.
That pattern played out on a massive scale in January 2026, helping push crypto losses to their highest level in almost a year and offering a stark reminder that the weakest point in the system is still the human one.
David Adubiina
Losses surge as scams dominate January
According to blockchain security firm CertiK, cryptocurrency losses from hacks, exploits, and scams reached about $370 million in January 2026. That figure marks the highest monthly total in 11 months and represents a sharp jump from both December and the same period last year.
#CertiKStatsAlert 🚨
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) January 31, 2026
Combining all the incidents in January we’ve confirmed ~$370.3M lost to exploits.
~$311.3M of the total is attributed to phishing with one victim losing ~$284M due to a social engineering scam.
More details below 👇 pic.twitter.com/uXhi0P6dl5
While more than 40 separate incidents were recorded during the month, the numbers were heavily skewed by one extraordinarily large case, where a single victim lost roughly $284 million in a social engineering attack. The incident underscores how a single successful scam can distort monthly figures and cause sudden spikes in reported losses.
Phishing and social engineering were responsible for the overwhelming majority of the damage. CertiK estimates that more than $311 million of January’s losses came from phishing-related schemes, where attackers manipulate victims into voluntarily handing over access rather than exploiting code. These attacks often rely on impersonation, fake customer support messages, or fabricated security alerts that pressure targets into acting quickly.
Compared with January 2025, when losses stood at around $98 million, the latest total represents nearly a fourfold increase, highlighting how effective these low-tech methods remain even as blockchain infrastructure matures.
Exploits continue to test on-chain security
While scams dominated the headlines, technical exploits did not disappear. Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported that the largest hack of the month hit Step Finance, a Solana-based DeFi portfolio tracker, where attackers drained nearly $29 million after compromising multiple treasury wallets.
Another significant incident involved the Truebit protocol, which lost more than $26 million after a smart contract flaw allowed an attacker to mint tokens at minimal cost, triggering a steep drop in the TRU token’s price. Smaller but still notable exploits affected projects like SwapNet and the Saga network, contributing to a broader sense that on-chain security risks remain unresolved.
The January surge fits into a wider pattern of growing crypto-related crime. Chainalysis has said that illicit cryptocurrency addresses received a record $154 billion in 2025, underlining how criminal activity has scaled alongside adoption. Law enforcement actions are also becoming more visible.
In the United States, prosecutors recently charged a 23-year-old Brooklyn resident, Ronald Spektor, with stealing about $16 million from nearly 100 Coinbase users through phishing and social engineering. Operating under the online alias “lolimfeelingevil,” Spektor allegedly posed as a Coinbase employee, using fear and urgency to push victims into transferring funds to wallets he controlled.
January’s numbers show that crypto’s biggest losses are no longer driven only by sophisticated hacks or protocol failures, but by persuasion, trust, and split-second decisions made under pressure. As regulators, exchanges, and security firms push for better safeguards, the data suggests that education and clearer user protections will matter just as much as better code. Without them, the same familiar messages will keep landing, and the losses will keep piling up.
Jemi Motesho
