The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) announced the results of Operation Avalanche, a coordinated effort to identify compromised Ethereum wallets linked to crypto investment fraud and proactively warn affected individuals to prevent further losses. Conducted on March 11 and 12 with other Canadian securities regulators, police agencies, participating crypto trading platforms and blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, the operation targeted “approval phishing”, where victims are tricked into granting access that allows fraudsters to withdraw crypto from their wallet. Participants identified compromised wallets on the Ethereum blockchain, obtained wallet owner contact details via registered Canadian crypto trading platforms where relevant, and contacted 89 victims by phone or email. The blockchain addresses identified during the operation were drained of crypto assets worth an estimated USD 4.3 million, and interactions with victims generated information intended to support investigative and disruptive efforts against online investment fraud. BCSC investigators indicated they plan to use the techniques developed in Operation Avalanche to make proactive victim alerting a regular part of their response to online investment fraud.
British Columbia Securities Commission 2025-04-16
British Columbia Securities Commission disrupts approval phishing crypto fraud by warning 89 Canadian victims through Operation Avalanche
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) announced results of Operation Avalanche, identifying compromised Ethereum wallets linked to crypto investment fraud. Conducted with Canadian securities regulators, police, crypto platforms, and Chainalysis, the operation targeted "approval phishing" and contacted 89 victims, with wallets drained of approximately USD 4.3 million. BCSC plans to incorporate proactive victim alerting into ongoing fraud response efforts.