The cryptocurrency market has just recorded a shocking incident, showing that even a tiny mistake in copying a wallet address can lead to catastrophic consequences. An investor lost about 50 million USD USDT just by accidentally sending money to a fake wallet address created by a hacker.
Scam Script: Sophisticated and Extremely Dangerous
According to information recorded on the blockchain, the victim (wallet address starting with 0xcB80) took a step that many in the market still do: transferring 50 USDT before sending a large amount. This is considered a safety measure to ensure that the receiving address is accurate.
However, after this test transaction, the attacker quickly deployed a tactic called 'address poisoning'. The hacker created a fake wallet address with the same first 4 and last 4 characters as the victim's real address, then made a small transaction to ensure this fake address appeared in the transaction history.
“…” In the Wallet Interface – Indirect Causes of Disaster
The key point lies in the fact that many wallet applications currently shorten wallet addresses, only displaying the beginning and the end, while the middle part is hidden by '...'.
Due to the habit of only checking a few characters at the beginning and end, the victim inadvertently copied a fake address from the transaction history instead of their real wallet address. As a result, in the next transaction, the remaining 49,999,950 USDT was sent straight to the scammer's wallet and cannot be recovered.
A Very Costly Lesson for the Entire Market
Blockchain security experts consider this one of the painful yet highly cautionary examples for the crypto community. The incident shows:
Transaction history is no longer a safe source to copy addresses
Current attacks do not require hacking wallets, just exploiting users' careless habits
Blockchain transactions are irreversible; one mistake means losing it forever
Survival Principles When Transferring Crypto
From this incident, investors need to especially remember:
Always check the entire wallet address, not just the first 4 and last characters
Do not copy addresses from transaction history, especially for large amounts
Use Address Book / Whitelist if the wallet or exchange supports it
Break down large transactions; do not transfer the entire amount in one go
With millions of USD, multi-layer verification, even offline checks
Conclusion
In crypto, security is not just about technology but also about habits. This $50 million loss did not come from a system error, but from a subjective moment. The market always pays dearly for carelessness, and sometimes, that price is a fortune.
In the world of blockchain: There is no room for mistakes, and there is no 'undo' button.