Ethereum
Fraudulent crypto trader’s funds already converted to Ethereum
Alex Dovbnya
The scammer’s movements are monitored by blockchain detectives
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Earlier today, an extremely unlucky trader fell victim to an address poisoning scam, losing a whopping $68 million worth of wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC). Most of these funds have already been converted to Ethereum, according to crypto tracking and compliance platform MistTrack.
A $68 million mistake
Address poisoning scam involves creating a fake address that is very similar to the real one.
For this fraudulent scheme to work, a potential victim must be reckless enough to copy and paste the wrong address to complete their transaction. Therefore, users are expected to always double-check their addresses (especially if copied from transaction history). At the same time, suspicious transactions should simply be ignored.
However, the trader in question did not follow this advice, losing an entire fortune thanks to a few fateful clicks.
In this case, the fake address had the same six characters at the beginning and end.
All eyes are on the stolen funds
According to the blockchain investigating officer’s notes, there are no functions in the code of the wBTC the issuer to freeze these funds, which means they will likely be lost forever.
However, now that these funds have been converted to Ethereum, it is unclear how anyone will launder these funds given that their movements will be scrutinized by countless blockchain detectives. “It’s a huge amount of money and you’re most likely going to get caught. Almost everyone is watching every move you make right now,” MistTrack said.
MistTrack suggested that the scammer consider returning the funds, as it is very unlikely that he will be able to spend them all without getting caught.
About the Author
Alex Dovbnya
Alex Dovbnya (aka AlexMorris) is a cryptocurrency expert, trader and journalist with extensive experience covering everything related to this booming industry, from price analysis to blockchain disruption. Alex has authored over 1,000 articles for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech media. He is particularly interested in regulatory trends across the world that are shaping the future of digital assets. He can be contacted at alex.dovbnya@u.today.