Odaily Planet Daily reports that, according to Etherscan research, address poisoning attacks on the Ethereum network have shown a significant upward trend recently. Attackers insert wallet addresses that closely resemble legitimate ones—matching in leading and trailing characters—into users’ transaction histories via spoofed transactions, thereby tricking users into accidentally copying the wrong address during subsequent transfers.
Research shows that between July 2022 and June 2024, the Ethereum network experienced approximately 17 million address poisoning attempts targeting around 1.3 million user addresses, with confirmed losses of at least $79.3 million. Attacks are typically carried out through zero-value transfers, fake token transfers, or dust transfers, and are automatically initiated within minutes after users complete legitimate transactions.
Although the success rate of a single attack is only about 0.01% (approximately 1 in 10,000), attackers use automated systems to send large volumes of poisoning transactions, relying on volume to generate profits. The study also found that different attack groups often compete for the same target address, attempting to be the first to write counterfeit addresses into the transaction history.
In addition, the Fusaka upgrade, activated on December 3, 2025, reduced Ethereum transaction costs, enabling attackers to send large volumes of poisoning transactions at lower cost. Within 90 days after the upgrade, Ethereum’s daily transaction volume increased by approximately 30% compared to the previous 90 days, the number of new daily addresses rose by about 78%, and there was a noticeable increase in small-value dust transfers.
Etherscan reminds users to carefully verify the recipient address before sending a transaction. Use address labels, ENS domains, wallet address books, or address highlighting features to distinguish legitimate addresses and reduce the risk of sending funds to the wrong address. Since blockchain transactions are irreversible, funds sent to an incorrect address are typically unrecoverable.