Jameson Lopp sounds alarm on Bitcoin address poisoning attacks

Jameson Lopp, the chief safety officer at Bitcoin (BTC) custody firm Casa, sounded the alarm on Bitcoin handle poisoning assaults, a social engineering rip-off that makes use of comparable addresses from a sufferer’s transaction historical past to idiot them into sending funds to the malicious handle.

In keeping with Lopp’s Feb 6 article, the risk actors generate BTC addresses that match the primary and final digits of addresses from the sufferer’s transaction historical past. Lopp analyzed the Bitcoin blockchain historical past for the sort of assault and located:

“The primary such transactions didn’t seem till block 797570, July 7, 2023, which had 36 such transactions. Then, all was quiet till block 819455, December 12, 2023, after which we are able to discover common bursts of those transactions up till block 881172, January 28, 2025, then there was a 2-month break earlier than they began up once more.”

“Over these 18 months, simply shy of 48,000 transactions had been despatched that match this profile of potential handle poisoning,” Lopp added.

The chief urged Bitcoin holders to completely test addresses earlier than sending funds and known as for higher pockets interfaces that absolutely show addresses. Lopp’s warning highlights the rising cybersecurity exploits and fraudulent schemes plaguing the business.  

Associated: Crypto exploit, rip-off losses drop to $28.8M in March after February spike

Handle poisoning scams and exploits declare billions in stolen person funds

In keeping with cybersecurity agency Cyvers, over $1.2 million was stolen by way of handle poisoning assaults in March 2025. Cyvers CEO Deddy Lavid stated a majority of these assaults price customers $1.8 million in February.

Blockchain safety agency PeckShield estimates the whole quantity misplaced to crypto hacks in Q1 2025 to be over $1.6 billion, with the Bybit hack accounting for the overwhelming majority of the stolen funds.

The Bybit hack in February was accountable for $1.4 billion in losses and represents the largest crypto hack in historical past.

Cybersecurity consultants have tied the assaults to North Korean state-affiliated hackers that use complicated and evolving social engineering schemes to steal cryptocurrencies and delicate information from targets.

Widespread Lazarus Group social engineering scams embrace fraudulent job gives, zoom conferences with faux enterprise capitalists, and phishing scams on social media.

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