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Ethereum User May Recover Some of $71 Million Loss from Address Poisoning Scam
An Ethereum user recently fell victim to an “address poisoning” scam and accidentally sent $71 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin to a scammer’s crypto address. However, there may be hope for the victim to recover at least some of their lost funds.
Details of the Scam
On May 3, the user with the address 0x1E227 mistakenly sent 1,155 Wrapped Bitcoin to the scammer’s address 0xd9a1c3788d8… after being deceived into thinking it was their own address. The victim, in a bid to retrieve their funds, engaged in blockchain correspondence with the scammer and received a partial refund of 52 ETH (equivalent to $156,000) on Thursday.
The scam was executed using a technique known as “address poisoning” or “wallet contamination.” This method involves a scammer sending a zero-value transaction to a victim’s wallet from a crypto address that bears a striking resemblance to one with which the victim frequently interacts. In this case, both the genuine address and the scammer’s address shared similar prefixes and suffixes, making them appear almost identical within most wallet applications.
The scammer’s aim was to entice the victim into copying the fake address from their transaction history the next time they intended to transfer funds, thereby diverting the transaction to the scammer’s wallet.
Attempts at Recovery
Following the loss of funds, the victim messaged the scammer requesting the return of 90% of the funds, with a 10% reward offered to the scammer. The victim warned the scammer about potential repercussions if they failed to comply, citing their ability to trace the stolen funds. The scammer, in turn, demanded the remaining $1.6 million in DAI stablecoin, threatening to cease communication if their demands were not met.
Others chimed in on the conversation, with one individual offering to provide information about the hacker, including IP addresses, in exchange for $100,000. Some individuals supported the scammer’s actions, dismissing the victim’s threats as empty and labeling the victim as a “dumb, greedy whale” in support of the scammer.
Despite the ongoing negotiations and threats, there remains a possibility that the victim may recover a portion of the lost funds, offering a glimmer of hope in an otherwise troubling situation.
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