๐ What Happened ??
A cryptocurrency holder lost roughly $49,999,950 USDT (~$50 million) in a spoofed address attack (address poisoning) on the blockchain.
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The victim first sent a small test transfer (about 50 USDT) to what they thought was the correct wallet. Shortly afterward, an attacker created a fake address that looked nearly identical โ sharing the same first and last few characters.
Coinpedia Fintech News
Because many wallets display addresses in abbreviated form (e.g., showing only beginning and ending characters), the scammerโs address appeared in the victimโs recent transaction history.
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The user unknowingly copied the wrong (spoofed) address from their history and then sent almost all the USDT (~49.999 million) to the attackerโs wallet.
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Once on the blockchain, these transfers are irreversible, meaning the funds were permanently lost unless the attacker later voluntarily returns them (which is rarely the case).
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๐ฏ How the โAddress Poisoningโ Scam Works
The attacker monitors on-chain activity โ especially wallets that recently received large amounts.
protos.com
By sending a tiny amount of crypto from a fake address that resembles the victimโs intended address, scammers โpoisonโ the victimโs transaction history.
protos.com
When the victim later uses recent history to copy an address for a large transfer, they may accidentally select the poisoned (fraudulent) address.
protos.com
๐จ Additional Details & Aftermath
Some reports suggest the stolen USDT was possibly converted into other tokens (e.g., DAI) and then used to purchase ETH before being routed through privacy mixers such as Tornado Cash โ complicating recovery.
Phemex
Blockchain analysts and security experts are warning traders to never copy addresses from recent transaction histories and to always verify the full wallet string manually.
Blockchain News
๐ง Key Takeaways and Prevention
How to reduce risk of similar scams:
Always verify full wallet addresses (not just beginnings/ends) before large transfers.
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Avoid copying from transaction history, especially after a small test transfer. Instead, use direct sources or address allowlists.
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Consider using wallet software/plugins that highlight mismatches or flag suspicious addresses.
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