In a shocking turn of events, a whale in the cryptocurrency world lost a staggering 1,155 Wrapped BTC (WBTC) in a phishing attack on May 3. The value of the stolen funds amounted to a whopping $71 million. However, what came as an even bigger surprise was the fact that the attacker decided to return all the stolen funds to the victim a week after the incident.

The unfortunate series of events began on May 2 when the whale decided to invest $29.6 million DAI to purchase 502 WBTC at a rate of $58,951 each. Following this transaction, on May 4, the victim created a new address and made a small transfer of 0.05 ETH for testing purposes, a common practice when dealing with large transactions.

As revealed by Finbold, the attacker had meticulously planned this phishing attack in advance by generating fraudulent addresses and closely monitoring the victim’s on-chain activities. When the victim was preparing to transfer the WBTC, the attacker slyly sent a small amount of 0 ETH using a phishing address.

The attack utilized a crafty technique known as “Address Poisoning,” which effectively poisons the victim’s transaction history by tricking them into sending funds to the wrong address. This particular phishing address cleverly mirrored the victim’s new address, making it incredibly difficult to detect any discrepancies. Many crypto wallets obscure the middle part of addresses with ellipses to streamline the user interface, making it easier for users to fall prey to such attacks.

Consequently, the whale unknowingly copied the phishing address and transferred 1,155 WBTC to the attacker, resulting in the loss of $71 million worth of funds. Upon receiving the stolen WBTC, the attacker promptly converted it into 22,960 ETH, raising suspicions of potential money laundering activities.

In a surprising turn of events, the victim attempted to reach out to the attacker, offering a 10% reward in exchange for the return of 90% of the stolen funds. Initially unresponsive, the attacker eventually caved in as cybersecurity firm Slow Mist traced the attacker’s IPs back to Hong Kong. Subsequently, the attacker returned the entirety of the stolen funds to the victim.

To safeguard against such malicious attacks, users are advised to exercise caution when making transfers and double-check the entire address to ensure its authenticity. Saving trusted addresses in an address book and copying them directly from there can help mitigate the risk of falling victim to phishing attacks. Additionally, enabling small transaction filtering within wallets can provide an added layer of protection against fraudulent transactions, ultimately safeguarding users’ funds in the volatile world of cryptocurrencies.

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