This week, cryptocurrency users fell victim to fraudsters, losing over $1.6 million due to address poisoning attacks, marking a record high.
User Losses in Cryptocurrency
According to the fraud prevention platform ScamSniffer, one victim lost 140 Ether (ETH), equivalent to around $636,500, on Friday after copying the wrong address from contaminated transaction history. It is also reported that another victim lost $880,000 on Sunday, while two other users lost $80,000 and $62,000 respectively.
Address Poisoning Attack Method
Address poisoning involves sending small transactions from addresses that resemble legitimate ones, duping users into copying the wrong address. 'Poisoners send small transfers from addresses that mimic a real one, so copying from history becomes a trap,' explained Web3 Antivirus, a firm offering blockchain security solutions.
Additional Losses from Phishing Signatures
In addition to losses from address poisoning attacks, at least $600,000 was lost this week from victims who signed malicious phishing signatures. For instance, on Tuesday, a victim lost $165,000 worth of BLOCK and DOLO tokens after signing malicious signatures.
In light of these events, experts urge users to use address books or whitelists and to verify addresses thoroughly before sending funds to avoid further losses.
