How much was lost in the Fake DAI Token hack?

The Fake DAI Token hack resulted in $10K in losses on July 08, 2023.

What attack technique was used in the Fake DAI Token exploit?

The Fake DAI Token exploit utilized Other. Understanding this attack vector is critical for smart contract auditors and developers building secure DeFi protocols.

How can developers prevent similar smart contract attacks?

Preventing smart contract hacks requires a combination of secure coding practices, thorough security audits, and understanding common attack vectors like reentrancy, oracle manipulation, and access control flaws. Smart Contract Hacking (SCH) provides hands-on training to help developers and auditors identify and prevent vulnerabilities before deployment.

Fake DAI Token Hack

TOTAL LOST $10K

Low Jul 08, 2023 Other

Affected Chain 2023 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1942 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Other Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

A fake DAI token scam on Binance Smart Chain led to a loss of 9,815 USD worth 46.45 BNB due to a gas token draining issue.

Details of the Exploit

The scammer deployed a Fake DAI token with malicious code in the Approval function, deceiving users into believing that the transaction fee to revoke was high on Fake DAI token Revoke Transactions. Minted CHI tokens were sent through several addresses and eventually swapped for BNB. The total loss amounted to 9,815 USD worth 46.45 BNB.

Block Data Reference

Scammer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x8639b763…ba87a4

Funds Holder as of Oct 19, 2023:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x2D8451d1…f435AA

Malicious Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x7d3e1aba…ef63ad

Malicious Contract Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x1af32e84…b368c3

Incident Report

Protocol / Project Fake DAI Token

Date of Incident July 08, 2023

Attack Technique Other

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Other

Affected Token DAI

Team Anonymous

Source Code Unverified

What the Attacker Needed to Succeed

Understanding the prerequisites for this type of attack helps auditors identify protocols that are most at risk and helps developers build better defenses.

Technical Knowledge Deep understanding of other and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

On-Chain Access Ability to interact with smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in Fake DAI Token's contract logic - root cause: token

Execution Speed Precise transaction ordering and timing to exploit the vulnerability within a single atomic block

Obfuscation Plan A strategy to launder and move stolen funds - typically through mixers, cross-chain bridges, or decentralized DEX swaps to resist tracing

What Auditors Should Check

Could this have been caught in audit? Likely — with a thorough Other audit checklist and test coverage

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to Fake DAI Token, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (July 2023).

Verify all logic paths related to Other are guarded by proper access controls and input validation
Review privileged functions (owner, admin, governance) for potential abuse vectors - centralization risks should be documented and bounded with timelocks or multi-sigs

Master these auditing techniques with hands-on labs and real exploit scenarios in the Smart Contract Hacking course.

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Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://medium.com/@zokyo.io/fake-approval-scam-40d870b15f8c

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Other
Root Cause Token
Year 2023

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