Cyvers Alert, a blockchain security company, disclosed that an unnamed cryptocurrency trader suffered a loss of 1,155 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), valued at $70.5 million, due to address poisoning.

The firm stated:

"Could it be true? Another address has fallen prey to address poisoning, resulting in a loss of 1,155 WBTC, equivalent to $68 million."

Meir Dolev, Cyvers' founder and CTO, remarked that this incident marked "perhaps the largest loss attributed to an address-poisoning scheme."

Address poisoning is a fraudulent tactic used by malicious actors to exploit cryptocurrency traders. This deceitful method typically involves tricking victims into sending digital assets to scammer-owned fraudulent addresses.

The scheme unfolds by creating addresses that closely resemble the target's, using similar starting and ending characters to deceive unsuspecting victims. Subsequently, scammers execute a crypto transfer from the newly fabricated address to the victim's wallet, contaminating the transaction history. The victim, unaware, unknowingly copies the tainted address from the transaction log, inadvertently directing funds into the hacker's wallet.

Such attacks have become increasingly common, with former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao highlighting a similar incident last year. Zhao noted:

"Scammers have become adept at creating addresses with matching starting and ending letters, which many people check when conducting crypto transfers. Additionally, many wallets obscure the middle part of the address with '...' for a cleaner UI."