Whether digital or real-life poison, poison is poison and has only one intent—to destroy, you might have never heard about address poisoning as a crypto trader. Still, it’s a new tactic by hackers to steal from unsuspecting crypto traders. Anything can be poisoned, from your food to your website or crypto address. Crypto wallet address poisoning is real and discouraging many crypto traders from trading, so it must be stopped. For those of you that are just hearing about it for the first time, this article is for you. However, if you know what it is, stick around to find out how to avoid address poisoning and trade successfully.
What is address poisoning in crypto?
Address poisoning is a relatively new crypto wallet attack that gained prominence in early 2023. The modus operandi of address poisoning is quite simple. The attacker tricks the victim into sending funds to the attacker’s address by creating
transactions designed to confuse the target.
Forms of Address poisoning
Address poisoning takes on different forms, and they are discussed below.
Fake Contracts: In fake contracts, the attacker creates a fake smart contract that sends tokens with no amounts to an address similar to the victims. The victim mistakes this address for the real one and make a legitimate transfer to the attacker’s address.
Bread Crumbing: The attacker creates a fake address that is very similar to the victim’s address. They then send very small amounts of cryptocurrency to the victim’s address, hoping the victim will check the balance on a block explorer and see the attacker’s address in the transaction history. The attacker usually banks that are seeing an address similar to one you usually transact with will prompt you to make a legitimate to such account.
How to avoid address poisoning in crypto
It is imperative to remember that anyone can fall prey to address poisoning. Nobody has built-in resistance to prevent such attacks, but some ways have proven effective in avoiding address poisoning in crypto. If you can adhere to these methods, you will greatly reduce the chances of getting scammed.
Set up alerts
Thanks to several technological advancements, cryptocurrency, as we know it, has advanced beyond our imagination. Now, some tools allow you to set up alerts to notify you whenever your crypto address interacts or transacts with a smart contract with or without your permission. This can be used to track the activities of your wallet and alert you of a possible breach or attack, if there’s any.
Create an address list
As mentioned earlier, address poisoning attacks work by tricking you into sending crypto to a wallet address that you think is yours or transact with regularly. You can avoid address poisoning by creating an address list containing the addresses you frequently transact with. This way, whenever you spot an address that doesn’t look familiar, you can easily tell that an address has been poisoned.
Use a cold wallet
Cold wallets are wallets that store cryptocurrency offline in a hardware device. These wallets are less prone to address poisoning since there is no address to poison in the first place, only private keys. Also, cold wallets were created to check transactions before they were approved to prevent hacks.
Use trusted sources to get an address
The internet being what it is, has already exposed us to a lot of harm. Avoid clicking suspicious links to obtain the address of your recipient. Instead, opt for trusted sources like social media accounts, official websites, and other verifiable websites. Never use previous transactions as a yardstick for approving addresses; always double the address to be sure.
Astro Africa: Best platform to trade safely in Nigeria
There are indeed several exchange platforms in Nigeria, but it is also true that only a few of them are concerned about their users. Astro Africa is one of the few exchange platforms that has constantly prioritized its users’ needs over the years. If you’ve never used Astro Africa for your trades, you might never understand what it truly means to trade cryptocurrency for naira with peace of mind.
When you trade Bitcoin or USDT on Astro Africa, you can be 100% sure your assets are safe. Astro Africa employed the best security technology to ensure the platform is formidable and resistant to attacks by unauthorized third parties. Apart from security, Astro Africa has a user-friendly interface, rates calculator, referral bonus, and responsive customer service. You can easily become a registered Astro Africa user by visiting the website or downloading the app from Google Play Store or App Store.
