As the value of cryptocurrencies increases, so do the losses from related attacks. Attackers are known to try every method to seize user funds. In this context, a significant incident occurred, and Lookonchain caught it.
Crypto Currency Attack Occurred
A cryptocurrency investor suffered a loss of $70 million in Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) as a result of an attack on their address. The attack, which lasted exactly six hours, created a major shock effect in the cryptocurrency markets.
Lookonchain reported that the affected investor created a new address “0xd9A1b0B1e1aE382DbDc898Ea68012FfcB2853a91” and sent a small amount of Ethereum (ETH) worth about 0.05 ETH to the new address.
This transaction by the investor is commonly seen in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space primarily to cover gas fees.
It is known that when cryptocurrency investors create new crypto wallet addresses, they carry such funds to pay for potential gas fees associated with future transactions.
However, unbeknownst to the investor, a scammer was waiting, ready to attack at the right moment without the investor realizing it.
Details of the Crypto Currency Attack
The scammer appeared to use a technique known as an address attack. He created an address with the same starting and ending letters as the new address of the investor. The scammer made a striking move by transferring zero ETH to the investor and ensuring this was reflected in the investor’s transaction history.
Many crypto wallets, for ease of use in the user interface, hide the middle part of addresses with “…”.
The incident occurred at this point. The investor, intending to transfer his approximately $71 million worth of 1.155 WBTCs, copied the address to which the scammer had sent ETH instead of the address he had created himself.
It is a known fact that crypto wallet users generally only pay attention to the first and last four characters of addresses.
This mistake led to a devastating outcome, resulting in the investor’s WBTCs falling into the hands of the scammer. The magnitude of the loss created a shock effect in the crypto community, and users made many posts expressing their astonishment.
