To protect yourself from malicious attacks, the Metamask support team is urging wallet users to double-check every character in their wallet address. The team highlighted that copying and pasting wallet addresses can lead to address poisoning attacks and potential losses.
Address Poising Scams Target Careless Crypto Users
Metamask The team explained that address poisoning attacks are a new type of scam targeting cryptocurrency wallets. This attack relies on user carelessness and haste. “It can easily result in a loss of funds,” the team warned. The team took to Twitter to explain how scammers use this tactic to steal from unsuspecting victims.
A new scam called “Address Poisoning” is growing in popularity. Here’s how it works: The scammer sends a token with a negligible value and then a transaction with $0 token. This poisons the transaction history. (1/3)
— MetaMask Support (@MetaMaskSupport) January 11, 2023
The Metamask The team pointed out that many users do not remember their wallet addresses. Therefore, they rely on recognizing the beginning and end of the address. This is how scammers exploit users. They send a tiny sum to an address that closely resembles the one used by the user, which can trigger a poisoning attack. “When you respond, you will inadvertently copy your address from your transaction history and paste it elsewhere,” the team stated.
Verifying Each Character of a Wallet Address
Since cryptocurrency transactions are immutable, funds sent to the wrong address could be lost forever. Metamask The team advised that wallet users must not copy and paste their wallet addresses. Instead, they should “develop the habit of double-checking every character in an address before sending a transaction.”
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