A user recently fell victim to a sophisticated address poisoning attack that cost them $50M in USDT. Here's how it unfolded: they started with a $50 test transfer to verify the recipient address—a common security practice. However, the attacker had already deployed an address poisoning scheme, creating a wallet with digits nearly identical to the legitimate target. When the user copied what they thought was the correct address, they actually copied the attacker's lookalike wallet instead. The catastrophic result: $50 million in USDT sent to the wrong address. This incident highlights a critical vulnerability in crypto transactions: even cautious users can be deceived by visually similar wallet addresses. The slight variations in character sequences are easy to miss during manual verification, making this attack vector particularly dangerous for large transfers.
This page may contain third-party content, which is provided for information purposes only (not representations/warranties) and should not be considered as an endorsement of its views by Gate, nor as financial or professional advice. See Disclaimer for details.
16 Likes
Reward
16
7
Repost
Share
Comment
0/400
HodlTheDoor
· 2025-12-23 23:46
Damn, fifty million just disappeared like that, the address got poisoned, it's really terrible
---
This is why I never copy and paste, I always type the first few characters to verify
---
Did the 50 bucks test transfer save his life? No... instead, it became a springboard, this irony makes me unable to laugh
---
The problem is that even being cautious can't avoid it, unless a better verification mechanism appears
---
Large Investors should learn to use Multi-signature Wallets, otherwise they'll eventually be taken down by such low-level tactics
---
Reading this news reminds me of how many people might have been secretly played for suckers at this stage.
View OriginalReply0
YieldWhisperer
· 2025-12-23 17:04
address poisoning is literally just ancient phishing wrapped in blockchain packaging... we've been here since 2015, nothing new under the sun tbh
Reply0
RektButStillHere
· 2025-12-21 01:57
50 million is gone just like that, address poisoning is too outrageous
---
That's why I never copy and paste addresses, I always manually type the first few characters to verify
---
Did a test transfer and still couldn't escape? That's ruthless
---
NG, this kind of attack is really hard to defend against, no matter how careful you are, it's useless
---
So now who still dares to transfer large amounts? Everyone has to use multi-signature or something
---
50 million USDT, gone just like that, I’m devastated
---
Address poisoning, how early must this scheme have been deployed? Just thinking about it gives me the creeps
View OriginalReply0
GweiTooHigh
· 2025-12-21 01:47
Damn, 50 million just disappeared like that? It's so easy to mess up copying an address, how unlucky can you get?
---
That's why I never transfer large amounts all at once. Small tests are effective, but there's nothing you can do against malicious addresses.
---
These on-chain rats are really incredible, specifically targeting big holders.
---
No wonder so many people are switching to hardware wallets, at least address verification adds an extra layer of security.
---
Honestly, seeing this kind of thing makes me scared. I need to be more cautious with my next transfer.
---
50 million, brother. If it were me, I'd go crazy.
---
Address poisoning is so ruthless, it's hard to defend against.
View OriginalReply0
LucidSleepwalker
· 2025-12-21 01:45
$50 million just gone like that, it hurts to watch
---
The address poisoning trick is really clever, unstoppable
---
No matter how cautious, you can't prevent it. Is this the current state of Web3?
---
Copying and pasting is so dangerous? I need to be more careful in the future
---
Big players getting baited so many times, they need to find a solution
---
A tiny difference in characters can trick away hundreds of millions, outrageous
---
This guy must be kicking himself, even testing couldn't save him
View OriginalReply0
BlockchainBouncer
· 2025-12-21 01:40
Is 50M really gone just like that? It's really just a copy-paste job, and the crypto circle is defenseless against it.
View OriginalReply0
SolidityJester
· 2025-12-21 01:32
$50M loss, this kind of news really makes your mentality collapse after seeing too much
A user recently fell victim to a sophisticated address poisoning attack that cost them $50M in USDT. Here's how it unfolded: they started with a $50 test transfer to verify the recipient address—a common security practice. However, the attacker had already deployed an address poisoning scheme, creating a wallet with digits nearly identical to the legitimate target. When the user copied what they thought was the correct address, they actually copied the attacker's lookalike wallet instead. The catastrophic result: $50 million in USDT sent to the wrong address. This incident highlights a critical vulnerability in crypto transactions: even cautious users can be deceived by visually similar wallet addresses. The slight variations in character sequences are easy to miss during manual verification, making this attack vector particularly dangerous for large transfers.