Zero Transfer scammer steals $20M USDT, gets blacklisted by Tether

A scammer utilizing zero switch phishing assault managed to steal $20 million value of USDT stablecoin on Aug. 1, earlier than getting blacklisted by the stablecoin issuer Tether.

In keeping with an replace from on-chain analytic agency Peckshield, A zero switch scammer grabbed 20 million USDT from the sufferer handle 0x4071…9Cbc. The supposed handle that the sufferer deliberate to ship cash to was 0xa7B4BAC8f0f9692e56750aEFB5f6cB5516E90570, nonetheless, it was despatched to a phishing Handle: 0xa7Bf48749D2E4aA29e3209879956b9bAa9E90570.

The sufferer’s pockets handle first acquired 10 million USD from a Binance account. The sufferer then despatched it to a different handle earlier than the scammer jumped in. The scammer then despatched a pretend Zero USDT token switch out from the sufferer’s account to the scammer’s phishing handle. Just a few hours later the sufferer despatched 20 million actual USDT to the scammer considering they’re transferring to a identified handle.

The pockets was instantly frozen by the USDT issuer Tether elevating eyebrows on the speedy nature of the motion.

Curious who this might be if it was blacklisted inside ~1 hr

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 1, 2023

The rip-off proposers as a result of customers typically verify the primary or final 5 digits of a pockets handle and never the entire handle, making them ship the belongings to the phishing handle. The sufferer is tricked into sending a transaction for zero tokens from their pockets to an handle that resembles one to which they’ve already despatched tokens up to now.

For example, if the sufferer despatched 100 cash to an handle for an alternate deposit, the attacker may ship zero cash from the sufferer’s pockets to an handle that seems to be related however is definitely managed by the attacker. Upon viewing this transaction of their transaction historical past, the sufferer may assume that the handle displayed is the correct deposit handle. They could subsequently ship their cash straight.

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Zero switch phishing scams have turn out to be fairly outstanding within the crypto ecosystem over the previous 12 months with a number of situations of such scams coming to gentle. The primary occasion of the zero switch occurred in December final 12 months and has resulted in over $40 million in losses to such assaults.

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