$9.4 Million Stolen in Tron Address Poisoning Scam

A recent spate of 'address poisoning' scams on Tron has resulted in $9.4 million being stolen from 15 victims over the past four weeks, according to on-chain investigator Specter.

The scammer sent tiny amounts of crypto from fake addresses that looked almost identical to real ones used by the victims, tricking them into sending their money to the thief instead of the intended recipient. The stolen funds were then swapped into USDD, a Tron-based stablecoin, and funneled to one consolidation wallet.

The two biggest victims lost $2.5 million each. Specter flagged the losses on August 27.

Address poisoning scams work by sending 'dust transactions' from fake addresses that look similar to real ones used by the victim in the past. When users copy these fake addresses from their transaction history, they send their money straight to the thief instead of the intended recipient.