Check out the details of Bitcoin investor loses US$70 million in wrong address blunder
According to reports, a crypto trader lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in an address-poisoning scam.
Address poisoning scams involve fraudsters who create fake accounts with the victim’s online crypto “address,” which they then use to send a tiny amount of money to the victim in the hopes that the victim will eventually send cash to that fake address, Transak, a cryptocurrency trading platform, explains.
The public nature of blockchains makes it easy for hackers to identify people’s crypto addresses and fake transactions to send to phishing targets.
Blockchain security firm CertiK reported a US$69.3M Bitcoin transaction to an address associated with address poisoning in a blog post on X.
The victim’s crypto wallet currently shows a loss of approximately 97% of its Coinbase assets. The account’s total value is presently just over US$1.6M.
Another security firm, Peckshield, reported on X, “The scammers exchanged the stolen BTC for 23,000 ETH and then moved the funds.” The Daily Hodl reports that Ethereum currently trades at US$3,116 per coin.
Another crypto trading platform, Trezor, suggests that you double-check all addresses before sending a transaction and never copy an address from your transaction history when sending money to prevent address scams.
Another effective way to verify the address is to send a small trial transaction before executing a large transfer, according to the company.
More than 75% of investment scam losses last year cost investors an estimated US$3.94 billion and are accounted as frauds related to cryptocurrency, according to the FBI’s 2023 Internet Crime Report.
According to a study, crypto “pig butchery” scams cost investors an estimated US$75 million between 2020 and 2024. The scam begins with a scammer sending a fake phone number to gain victims’ trust.
They then send them small amounts of money and entice them to make fraudulent crypto trades, only ending the relationship once the victim sends them a large sum of money.
The scam is called “fattening up a pig before the slaughter.”
The Federal Trade Commission reports that the majority of cryptocurrency scams involve fraudsters attempting to trick victims into paying in Bitcoin in order to avoid detection in unrelated scams.
According to the agency, the easiest method to recognize a crypto scam is never to trust someone who only accepts cryptocurrency or promises substantial financial returns on a risky investment.
FTC stated, “Investment scams are one of the top ways scammers trick you into buying cryptocurrency and sending it on to scammers,” “But scammers are also impersonating businesses, government agencies, and a love interest, among other tactics.”
