A Trader Lost $71 Million In A Crypto Transfer Scam Through Phishing Attack
An unfortunate incident has been reported where an individual lost a considerable amount of 1,155 $Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) worth around $71 million due to a phishing attack.
The incident occurred when the victim created a new address with the public key “0xd9A1b0B1e1aE382DbDc898Ea68012FfcB2853a91” six hours ago and transferred 0.05 $Ethereum (ETH) to this address.
According to the source, the scammer took advantage of the victim’s actions and generated an address with the same starting and ending letters as the victim’s new address. Subsequently, he then transferred 0 $ETH to the victim’s address, which appeared in the victim’s transaction history.
As many wallets tend to hide the middle part of the address with “…” to make the user interface look better, the victim mistakenly copied the scammer’s address when he wanted to transfer $WBTC to his new address, thinking it was his own.
Phishing or Wallet Poisoning?
Unfortunately, this mistake led to the transfer of 1,155 $WBTC ($71M) to the scammer’s address, resulting in the loss of the funds. This incident highlights the importance of being cautious and verifying the details before making any transactions to avoid such phishing attacks and potential losses.
A trader expressed confusion about how the exploiter can generate a wallet address that matches the victim’s address, which is supposedly impossible.
Moreover, it notes that generating an address with a specific starting and ending is difficult, as addresses must be randomw. Another user questions how the threat actor can overcome this challenge and create a fraudulent address that matches the victim’s noting how many code combinations could have gone through processing.
Furthermore, crypto proponents sympathetically warn the general public that even wealthy individuals are not immune to scams and hacking attempts. They advise everyone to remain vigilant and cautious when it comes to clicking on links or sharing personal information online.
Notably, one common tactic used by vulnerability exploiters involves targeting wallets that hold large amounts of cryptocurrency with multiple transfers. This can result in the victim unknowingly sending their funds to the scammer’s wallet, leading to significant financial losses.
It is important to always double-check the accuracy of wallet addresses before sending any cryptocurrency and to stay vigilant against potential phishing attacks.
