- A crypto user lost $50 million in USDT after sending funds to a scam address due to an “address poisoning” attack.
- The victim mistakenly copied a scammer’s address similar to their intended recipient’s address from their transaction history.
- The stolen USDT was converted into Dai stablecoin, moved to another address, and then swapped for wrapped ether on Uniswap.
- Address poisoning involves sending small amounts of crypto (“dust”) from fake but similar addresses to trick users into copying the wrong address.
- A previous case involved $70 million lost in a similar scam, with the scammer eventually returning more than half of the funds.
A cryptocurrency user recently lost approximately $50 million in USDT after falling victim to an “address poisoning” scam. The incident occurred when the user sent most of their funds to a fraudulent address that closely resembled the intended recipient’s wallet address. This error happened despite a prior small test transaction of about $50 USDT being sent correctly.
Security experts at Web3 Antivirus identified the scam earlier today. The scam address began with “0xBaF” and ended with “f8b5,” closely mirroring the legitimate address, which started with “0xbaf” and ended with “F8b5.” The user apparently did not verify the full address before transferring nearly $50 million. The full scam address was “0xBaFF2F13638C04B10F8119760B2D2aE86b08f8b5,” differing from the genuine one in its middle characters.
After the funds were sent, they were converted into the Dai stablecoin, which cannot be frozen, and then transferred to a different address. The assets were later swapped into wrapped ether using a service called “Rizzolsver: Uniswap X.” The victim’s wallet had been active for two years and had previously received the funds from the exchange Binance.
An address poisoning scam works by sending tiny amounts of cryptocurrency, called “dust,” from an address that closely resembles a legitimate wallet. These small transfers appear in the victim’s transaction history and can cause confusion, leading users to copy the wrong address. This scam has led to significant losses before, including a case where $70 million was sent to a poisoned address. In that situation, the victim began negotiating with the scammer and offered to let them keep 10% of the funds; eventually, the scammer returned over half of the stolen assets.
Two additional victims lost more than $200,000 combined last year after sending crypto to poisoned addresses. For ongoing updates and more details on these scams, readers can refer to the original sources and follow updates on platforms like Web3 Antivirus’s Twitter.
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