Crypto Trader Loses $2.5M in USDT to Address Poisoning Scam — Twice in One Day

A crypto trader has suffered a staggering loss of over $2.5 million in Tether (USDT) after falling victim to the same scam twice in a matter of hours

A crypto trader has suffered an unfortunate loss of over $2.5 million in Tether (USDT) after falling victim to the same scam twice in one day, as reported by blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer.

The trader's tale of woe began at 03:15 (UTC) on May 26, when they made a mistake that would have serious consequences. The trader accidentally transferred 712 ETH, valued at around $843,000, to an address poisoned by scammers.

The trader had been intending to send the funds to another recipient, and to avoid any errors, they copied the wallet address from their transaction history on Etherscan. However, what they didn't notice was that the address had been manipulated by scammers.

Just four hours later, at 07:14 (UTC), the same mistake was repeated, this time with even greater losses. The trader mistakenly sent 1400 ETH, valued at approximately $1.7 million, to a scammer's address again.

The attack method used in this case is known as address poisoning or history poisoning. Scammers send small transactions from wallet addresses that closely mimic legitimate ones the victim has interacted with. These fake transfers then appear in the user's wallet history, giving the impression they are from trusted addresses.

When users later copy an address from their transaction history to send a new payment, they can easily mistake the scammer's address for a legitimate one — leading to massive, irreversible losses.

This incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of double-checking all wallet addresses, even when dealing with familiar recipients, to avoid falling victim to such scams.

It also highlights the dangers of relying on wallet history for transactions and the need for users to be extra vigilant when copying addresses to avoid making costly errors.