MONEY DECODED

Address Poisoning: The Tiny Transaction That Sets You Up

Address poisoning is a trick that relies on one habit: copying a wallet address from your recent transactions instead of from a trusted source.

How it works

After you send crypto to someone, a scammer creates an address that starts and ends with the same characters as the real one. They send you a tiny amount, or a zero-value token transfer, from that look-alike address so it appears in your history. Next time you want to pay the same person, you copy the address from your history, pick the fake one, and your money goes to the scammer.

Red flags

• Small, unexpected transactions or unknown tokens appearing in your wallet.
• Two addresses in your history that look almost identical.

How to protect yourself

• Never copy addresses from your transaction history. Use your wallet's address book or ask the recipient again.
• Check the full address, not just the first and last characters.
• For large amounts, send a small test first and confirm it arrived.
• Ignore and hide unknown tokens; do not interact with them.