MetaMask developers warn about the scam with wallet address poisoning

As one of the security measures, the team recommended the use of hardware crypto wallets

12.01.2023 - 12:25

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What’s new? The developers of the MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet have issued a warning about a new type of scam called “Address poisoning.” According to the team, attackers are using a scheme with transaction address spoofing, counting on users’ inattention when performing further operations.

Warning on the developers’ website

What else is known? The developers reported that a user’s wallet includes one or more accounts, each of which has its own generated address. As for the scheme, the scammer uses the software to track transfers of certain tokens, usually stablecoins, and then uses a vanity address generator that allows the user to set some of the address characters independently to make it look like a potential victim or his counterparty’s address.

After that, the attacker sends a small amount, “poisoning” the transaction history in the hope that the user will not check the full wallet address the next time they make a transaction, but will simply copy it from the history.

The team noted that there is no way in the open blockchain to prevent scammers from making transfers to the addresses of potential victims. Among other things, the developers recommended using a hardware wallet, because such devices usually require verification and validation of the address before a transaction, as well as adding frequently used addresses to the MetaMask address book.

Earlier, former stockbroker Jordan Belfort, known as the “Wolf of Wall Street,” admitted to losing more than $300 000 as a result of hacking the MetaMask wallet. The total damage from attacks on cryptocurrency projects in 2022 was about $3,7 billion, the worst result in the entire history of observations.

To learn how to choose a cryptocurrency wallet, see GetBlock Magazine’s article.

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