In early August 2025, a crypto investor lost $3 million with a single click. The reason? He signed a transaction without carefully verifying the contract address. This mistake allowed scammers to instantly drain his wallet.
The incident was reported by blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain. In a post on X, they warned: “Be careful. One wrong signature and your wallet is empty. Never sign what you don’t fully understand.”
So how did it happen? The scammers used a method called “address poisoning”: the victim checked only the first and last characters of the wallet address, while the middle was replaced with a fraudulent one. According to on-chain data, the amount – 3.05 million USDT – was transferred in one go through multiple mixers and payment gateways, a standard money laundering pattern.
This is far from an isolated case. In July 2025 alone, crypto platforms lost over $147 million, much of it due to phishing and similar schemes rather than technical vulnerabilities. In fact, phishing attacks caused over $1 billion in losses in 2024, making human error the top risk factor in crypto security.
Here’s another troubling example: a user lost more than $900,000 after approving access to a malicious wallet. The scammers waited 458 days before finally draining the funds – a tactic designed to avoid detection.
Not all stories end in loss. In May 2024, a victim lost $71 million to a complex phishing attack – but two weeks later, the funds were returned after an international investigation traced the attacker’s potential IP address to Hong Kong.
The 2rbina.net exchange service reminds you: always double-check the full address before confirming any transaction, especially if it was copied from your clipboard. We strongly recommend not signing requests from unfamiliar websites and avoiding suspicious links. Use two-factor authentication and ensure you are on our official website. Your vigilance is your best protection.
