Address Poisoning Scam: MetaMask Alerts Users

According to the MetaMask team, a new crypto wallet address scam is on the rise that attempts to exploit user negligence.

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Cryptocurrency’s massive growth in recent years has created plenty of opportunities for scammers to steal investors’ funds. Blockchain data firm Chainalysis reports that fraudsters stole $14 billion in cryptocurrency in 2021, making it a record-breaking year for cryptocurrency crime. Those interested in crypto should know the risks and maintain an informed position.

The most popular blockchain wallet today, with monthly active users exceeding 30 million, MetaMask, has warned users about "Address Poisoning" - a new scam affecting crypto wallets. The company advises users to refrain from copying their wallet addresses from their transaction histories and instead use their address book to send digital assets.

What is Address Poisoning, and How Does it Work?

Your wallet includes one or more accounts, each with its own cryptographically generated address. This address is a long hexadecimal number containing numerical and a few alphabetical characters. Because of this characteristic, they are unintelligible to most people and difficult to remember.

As a result, most Web 3.0 software supports copying and pasting addresses rather than memorizing them and typing them. Generally, this saves a great deal of time and ensures that you don't make any mistakes and that your funds are always directed to the correct address.

The MetaMask application fits into this category of facilitating copy-and-paste: You can copy your address with just one click or tap. This copy-and-paste tendency is exploited speculatively in Address Poisoning.

Even though the hackers wouldn’t have access to users’ wallets, they could send funds to fake wallet addresses if some users have gotten into the habit of copying wallet addresses from the transaction history before sending funds.

Is There a Way to Protect Yourself from This Scam?

First, you need to know that you cannot prevent people - including scammers - from sending transactions to your address. Since these are public blockchains, anyone anywhere can interact with them.

The first thing to do is to ensure you do not fall victim to the scam by copying the address. The issue is tricky, and awareness is vital: Even those who consider themselves fairly meticulous - and double-check the start and end of an address before copying it - may fall prey to this scam.

The Wallet Provider Recommends the Following:

- Make sure the addresses are correct before sending

- Do not copy addresses from your transaction history, and if you do, check them carefully

- Consider using a hardware wallet

- Ensure adding frequently used addresses to your address book. (In MetaMask, you can find this under Settings > Contacts.)

- Use test transactions if possible

According to the Twitter announcement, MetaMask is working on more comprehensive solutions, but for now, the “Address Book” feature is a suitable method of protecting your funds.

Additionally, the MetaMask support team has posted on their Twitter account that they are open to user suggestions and encouraged them to submit their comments under the “Feature Request” section.

Sources: news.bitcoin.com, www.indiatoday.in, www.bleepingcomputer.com, www.binance.com