The post This Simple Mistake Drained a Crypto Wallet of $3 Million appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

On Wednesday, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain revealed that an investor fell victim to a phishing scam. The attacker lured the victim into signing a malicious transaction, draining $3.05 million in USDT from wallet address “0x2d9.” This wasn’t some obscure bug or hack. It was human error—one click, no take-backs. The investor likely did what many people do when transferring funds: check the first few and last few characters of the wallet address, assuming the middle part is fine. But that middle part is exactly where the malicious contract hides. And most wallet UIs don’t even show it by default. That’s how sophisticated these scams have become. They look legitimate at a glance, just enough to catch even seasoned traders off-guard. What’s a crypto phishing scam? Think of it as classic phishing, but with higher stakes. These attacks usually involve social engineering—fraudulent links or messages that trick users into handing over their credentials or signing malicious smart contracts. Unlike traditional banking fraud, there’s no fraud desk or chargeback option in DeFi. Once you click and sign, the money’s gone. And this isn’t a one-off. Just days earlier, another investor lost $900,000 to a phishing scam—458 days after signing a malicious approval transaction. That wallet sat quietly, waiting for the right moment to strike. No bells, no alarms. The $71 million twist Back in May 2024, a victim lost $71 million in a wallet poisoning scam. In a bizarre twist, the scammer returned the entire amount two weeks later, after global investigators traced the activity to a potential Hong Kong IP address and publicly ramped up the pressure. Don’t count on that kind of miracle, though. Most bad actors won’t fold. The bigger issue: False sense of security The common thread in all these incidents? A false sense of security. People think…

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Filed under: News - @ August 6, 2025 3:30 pm