Monkey Drainer
An early, prolific wallet-drainer-as-a-service crew (active into early 2023) that focused on high-value NFTs and is estimated to have facilitated roughly $13–16.5M in theft before announcing it was 'shutting down' and pointing affiliates to rival drainers.
Also known as: Monkey Drainer
Overview
Monkey Drainer was among the first widely used "drainer-as-a-service" operations and helped popularize the model in 2022. It rented phishing/wallet-draining scripts to scammers in exchange for a cut of the proceeds, and became known for targeting high-value NFTs such as Bored Ape Yacht Club — luring victims with fake mint, airdrop, or "claim" sites that prompted malicious approvals or transfers. [1][2]
Wind-down and legacy
In early 2023 the operator announced Monkey Drainer was "shutting down," said it was "time to move on to something better," and pointed "fellow cyber-gangsters" to a rival service (Venom). Estimates of the losses it facilitated range from about $13 million to $16.5 million. Its retirement directly fed the rise of successor drainers including Venom, Inferno, and Pink, cementing drainer-as-a-service as a persistent category of Web3 crime. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
- Pink, Pussy, Venom, Inferno — Drainers coming for a crypto wallet near you — Cointelegraph / Bitcoin Insider
- Pink Drainer retires (history of Monkey Drainer) — Protos
See also
- Aurelien MichelIndividualsFrench national who created the 'Mutant Ape Planet' NFT collection — a knockoff of Mutant Ape Yacht Club — and rug-pulled buyers after raising ~$2.9M. He pleaded guilty to wire-fraud conspiracy in 2023; in 2024 he was sentenced to time served plus a $15K fine and $1.4M forfeiture.
- Andre LlacunaIndividualsCo-creator (alias 'heyandre') of the Frosties NFT project, charged by the DOJ in March 2022 in its first NFT 'rug pull' case over the ~$1.1M scheme.
- Ethan NguyenIndividualsCo-creator (alias 'Frostie') of the Frosties NFT project, which the DOJ charged in March 2022 as its first NFT 'rug pull' case — abandoning the project hours after a ~$1.1M sellout and moving the funds to obfuscate their source.
This page was last updated on Jun 8, 2026. View revision history.