Advanced Crypto Concept: Address-Poisoning Scam and its Consequences

By: Eva Baxter

In one of the recent major cryptocurrency scams, a crypto user fell prey to an 'address-poisoning' scam which led him to lose a considerable 1,155 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), approximately amounting to $70.5 million. Address-poisoning scam, a type of phishing scheme, tricks individuals into transferring digital assets to fraudulent addresses. After the fraud, the scam artist immediately dispersed the WBTC into 22,956 Ether (ETH) across multiple wallets to blur the trail of assets.

Interestingly, a surprising development occurred when the fraudster started returning the stolen assets. As observed from the on-chain data, about half of the stolen funds have been returned to the victim's digital wallet, a development that appeared highly unlikely in the immediate aftermath of the fraud., suggesting a change of heart or fear of detection by the scam artist.

However, this event serves as a pertinent reminder to crypto users to continuously stay vigilant and double-check addresses when transferring assets to avoid falling prey to similar scams.