CoinDesk
An Ethereum address that received its first ether in the genesis block made its first outgoing transfer late Monday, sending 0.05 ETH worth about $106 as a test payment. Within three minutes, bots sent dust from two lookalike addresses designed to resemble the legitimate recipient, with one address distributing 43 such transfers. The owner made another precaution at 22:20 UTC, then transferred 2,154.94 ETH, worth roughly $4.6 million, to the correct address at 22:42 UTC, 38 minutes after the initial test.
Why it matters
The attempt illustrates how address poisoning targets dormant wallets at the moment they begin moving funds. Scam bots can monitor the chain for long-inactive addresses, then use a victim's small test payment as a signal that a larger transfer may follow. The fraudulent addresses share the opening and ending characters shown by many wallet applications, making them appear in transaction histories alongside the real recipient.
The owner avoided the trap by verifying the full destination rather than copying a recently used address. A second test transfer was sent onward, and nearly all of it returned, providing another checkpoint before the full movement. Whale Alert flagged the dormant wallet's initial activity.
Market impact
There was no direct loss from this attempt, but the episode shows that scams against dormant Ethereum holders are becoming automated and immediate. In January, Citi warned that poisoning spam was inflating Ethereum's record transaction counts with transfers worth less than $1, similar in scale to the dust used against this wallet. The low-value transactions cost little to distribute but can put large balances at risk when a holder relies on abbreviated addresses.
For investors, the practical takeaway is that sending dust to a wallet does not make it safe to copy addresses from transaction history. Full-address verification and small test payments can prevent an otherwise successful poisoning attack from redirecting significant funds.
Frequently asked questions
-
How did scammers target the dormant Ethereum wallet?
Bots monitored the chain and sent tiny transfers from addresses resembling the legitimate recipient after its first test payment. The dust entries were designed to appear in the wallet's transaction history.
-
Why did the Ethereum owner avoid the address-poisoning trap?
The owner did not rely on the abbreviated recipient details shown in transaction history. It verified the destination and made another test transfer before sending the larger amount.
-
How much ETH did the dormant wallet transfer?
The wallet sent 2,154.94 ETH to the correct address, worth roughly $4.6 million at the time of the transaction.
-
Why did the scammers wait for the first test payment?
A transfer from a long-dormant wallet can signal that a larger payment is about to follow. The test gave bots a trigger to flood the wallet's history with fraudulent lookalike addresses.
-
How is address poisoning affecting Ethereum?
Citi warned that poisoning spam was inflating Ethereum's transaction count with transfers worth less than $1. Although this attempt failed, the example shows that low-cost dust campaigns can threaten high-value dormant wallets.
WatcherGuru
WuBlockchain
Lookonchain
CryptoSlate
CoinTelegraph