Minority Mindset

Smart investments

Crypto News

Exploiter Steals $68M Worth of Crypto Through Address Poisoning

May 2, 2024
  • A user unintentionally sent 1,155 wrapped bitcoin to an exploiter’s wallet after being targeted by address poisoning.
  • The scam has been confirmed by various blockchain security firms.
As a seasoned crypto investor with several years of experience under my belt, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of sadness and frustration upon hearing about yet another large-scale cryptocurrency scam. The latest incident, where an unlucky user lost $68 million worth of wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) due to address poisoning, is a stark reminder of the risks we all face in this industry.A user who holds cryptocurrency, specifically wrapped bitcoin (WBTC), worth approximately $68 million has suffered significant losses due to a security breach called “address poisoning,” as reported by the blockchain security company CertiK.

Trickery through false address: This method deceives victims into sending funds to an incorrect wallet by replicating the initial and final six characters of a genuine address, while altering the remaining characters unnoticed. Wallet addresses span up to 42 characters in length.

In this scenario, the deceitful actor falsified a 0.05 ethereum (ETH) transaction as a ruse before obtaining 1,155 wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) from the unsuspecting victim.

As a crypto investor, I’ve come across disheartening news confirmed by security platform Cyvers and blockchain investigator ZachXBT. They revealed that approximately $68 million was drained from a wallet due to an address poisoning scheme.

In the year 2023, decentralized finance (DeFi) saw crypto investors suffer losses totaling $2.33 billion due to hacks, frauds, and exploits. The first quarter of that same year added an unfortunate $333 million to this tally.

Read More

2024-05-03 17:24