The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lost $55 thousand in cryptocurrency due to its own carelessness as a result of the actions of a fraudster with the substitution of crypto wallets, RBC reports.

The scammer created a cryptocurrency wallet whose address matched the first five and last four characters of the DEA wallet and sent a test transaction, hoping that the agency would copy the incorrect wallet address when sending the full amount, which ultimately happened, and the scammer received $55 thousand.

As a result, the DEA, having discovered an error, asked the Tether company to block the funds so that the criminal could not withdraw the cryptocurrency, but the funds had already been converted.