According to U.Today, a trader has reportedly lost $68 million in wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) due to an address poisoning scam. The scam involves creating a fake address that closely resembles a real one, tricking the victim into performing transactions to the wrong address. The trader, unfortunately, did not double-check the address and ended up losing a significant amount of money.
The fraudulent address had the same six characters at the beginning and the end, making it difficult to distinguish from the real one. The trader's funds have mostly been converted to Ethereum, as reported by crypto tracking and compliance platform MistTrack.
Blockchain investigator Officer's Notes has stated that there is no function in the wBTC issuer's code to freeze these funds, implying that they are likely lost forever. With the funds now converted to Ethereum, it remains unclear how the scammer plans to launder the money, given that their actions will be closely monitored by numerous blockchain investigators.
MistTrack has suggested that the scammer should consider returning the funds, as it is highly unlikely they will be able to spend the entire amount without being detected. The platform warned that the large sum of money involved would attract significant attention, making it difficult for the scammer to make any moves without being noticed.