‘Empty’ transactions: what's behind them and why are they dangerous?
If you use wallets such as Metamask, Trust, Phantom, and others in your daily cryptocurrency life, you may have noticed receipts for a nominal amount of ~$0.001 after sending cryptocurrency — these are ‘empty’ transactions.
There are two cases when this happens: dust attacks and address poisoning. We will not consider the first one, as such attacks are useless against ordinary users.
However, ‘address poisoning’ is a serious matter that can cost you money.
How does it work❓
◾️ You send cryptocurrency to an acquaintance/friend/exchange, etc.
◾️ Immediately, you receive a transfer on the same network for $0.001.
◾️ When you need to repeat the transaction, you copy the address from your history and send the money.
◾️ The money is lost.
What happened⁉️
Fraudsters have learned to instantly generate similar addresses with a difference of 1-2 characters, thus confusing ordinary users. By copying the address from the transaction history, you may not notice the difference and send cryptocurrency straight into the fraudster's pocket.
How to protect yourself❗️
◾️ Do not copy addresses from your transaction history; it is better to double-check with your friend than to lose everything.
◾️ Check the first and last 4 characters. The chance that all 8 characters will match is very small.
And just be careful, because cryptocurrency does not forgive even the smallest mistakes.
If you use wallets such as Metamask, Trust, Phantom, and others in your daily cryptocurrency life, you may have noticed receipts for a nominal amount of ~$0.001 after sending cryptocurrency — these are ‘empty’ transactions.
There are two cases when this happens: dust attacks and address poisoning. We will not consider the first one, as such attacks are useless against ordinary users.
However, ‘address poisoning’ is a serious matter that can cost you money.
How does it work❓
◾️ You send cryptocurrency to an acquaintance/friend/exchange, etc.
◾️ Immediately, you receive a transfer on the same network for $0.001.
◾️ When you need to repeat the transaction, you copy the address from your history and send the money.
◾️ The money is lost.
What happened⁉️
Fraudsters have learned to instantly generate similar addresses with a difference of 1-2 characters, thus confusing ordinary users. By copying the address from the transaction history, you may not notice the difference and send cryptocurrency straight into the fraudster's pocket.
How to protect yourself❗️
◾️ Do not copy addresses from your transaction history; it is better to double-check with your friend than to lose everything.
◾️ Check the first and last 4 characters. The chance that all 8 characters will match is very small.
And just be careful, because cryptocurrency does not forgive even the smallest mistakes.