Jameson Lopp, the chief safety officer at Bitcoin (BTC) custody firm Casa, sounded the alarm on Bitcoin tackle poisoning assaults, a social engineering rip-off that makes use of related addresses from a sufferer’s transaction historical past to idiot them into sending funds to the malicious tackle.
In accordance with Lopp’s Feb 6 article, the menace actors generate BTC addresses that match the primary and final digits of addresses from the sufferer’s transaction historical past. Lopp analyzed the Bitcoin blockchain historical past for this kind of assault and located:
“The primary such transactions didn’t seem till block 797570, July 7, 2023, which had 36 such transactions. Then, all was quiet till block 819455, December 12, 2023, after which we are able to discover common bursts of those transactions up till block 881172, January 28, 2025, then there was a 2-month break earlier than they began up once more.”
“Over these 18 months, simply shy of 48,000 transactions had been despatched that match this profile of potential tackle poisoning,” Lopp added.
Instance of a poisoned tackle assault. Supply: Jameson Lopp
The chief urged Bitcoin holders to totally test addresses earlier than sending funds and known as for higher pockets interfaces that totally show addresses. Lopp’s warning highlights the rising cybersecurity exploits and fraudulent schemes plaguing the trade.
Associated: Crypto exploit, rip-off losses drop to $28.8M in March after February spike
Handle poisoning scams and exploits declare billions in stolen person funds
In accordance with cybersecurity agency Cyvers, over $1.2 million was stolen by means of tackle poisoning assaults in March 2025. Cyvers CEO Deddy Lavid stated a majority of these assaults value customers $1.8 million in February.
Blockchain safety agency PeckShield estimates the overall quantity misplaced to crypto hacks in Q1 2025 to be over $1.6 billion, with the Bybit hack accounting for the overwhelming majority of the stolen funds.
The Bybit hack in February was chargeable for $1.4 billion in losses and represents the largest crypto hack in historical past.
Cybersecurity specialists have tied the assaults to North Korean state-affiliated hackers that use complicated and evolving social engineering schemes to steal cryptocurrencies and delicate information from targets.
Widespread Lazarus Group social engineering scams embrace fraudulent job provides, zoom conferences with pretend enterprise capitalists, and phishing scams on social media.
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