Cyber Criminal Behind the $71 Million Address Poisoning Launders 25K ETH

The post Cyber Criminal Behind the $71 Million Address Poisoning Launders 25K ETH appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

Just a few days ago, cybercriminals manipulated a trader in an address poisoning and  $71 million worth of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) was stolen upon successful completion of this phishing robbery act. 

The mastermind of this scam has now laundered then stolen 25k worth of ETH through a large number of addresses and wallets, thus showing how criminals have become more sophisticated and use complex technology to hide behind ill-gotten money.  

Unveiling the Laundering Process

As per the tweet by PeckShield Alerts, the hacker used a multi-tiered transaction scheme meant to mix their tracks and conceal their malpractices. Through multiple wallet transfers and the use of complex transfers, the criminals managed to conceal the real origin of these funds making them difficult to track.

Thieve Uses Layering Technique to Launder Funds

The process of laundering included the frequent movement of crypto from one address to another across blockchain networks. Via the painstaking act of layering up, the hacker tried to confuse the investigators.

The thieves converted the  WBTC into Ethereum (ETH) and circulated more than 23,000 ETH through the complicated network of transactions. 

The above case was, till now, the largest address poisoning attack, where the scammers steal assets, fooling the victims into copying a fraudulent address very similar to the genuine address. 

Phishing attacks are becoming more frequent, with April seeing $38 million in losses due to such attacks, according to Scam Sniffer’s report. It was indeed a positive development with a 46% drop compared to March last month. 

Despite the overall decline, theft on the Base chains saw a substantial increase of 145% from the previous month. Phishing remains one of the main threats to ordinary users in the crypto space, so before giving any permissions or transferring any assets, a thorough check is vital. A simple act of manually entering an address can save millions of your crypto.