USDT Holder Returns $129 Million After Theft: An Unusual Story with Hackers
Date: 2024-11-21 Author: Henry Casey Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
The theft of $129 million in USDT stablecoins occurred due to the use of a phishing address, Tronscan specialists reported. The attackers replaced the recipient's address, making it visually similar to the original: the fake "THc...bu8" was almost indistinguishable from the real "TMS...bu8". When the funds arrived at the fraudster's wallet, they were immediately transferred to a new account.
It is believed that the victim's computer was infected with malware that replaces crypto addresses in the clipboard. Since the substitution occurs at the moment of copying, users often do not notice the differences between the addresses, especially if they are visually similar.
However, the development of the situation was unexpected. About an hour after the transfer, the criminal voluntarily returned 90% of the stolen funds to the victim, which amounted to 116.7 million USDT. The remaining 12.96 million USDT (10%) were returned a few hours later.
According to experts, such cases are extremely rare in the cryptocurrency industry. The reasons why the attacker decided to return the funds remain unclear.
It is worth noting that Tether, the company that issues USDT stablecoins, actively combats illegal transactions. Back in May of this year, it became known about the new Omni Core software, which allows you to block assets on wallets included in the blacklist. According to Dune Analytics, Tether's blacklist includes about 2,000 addresses, on which about 1.3 billion USDT are frozen.
This story again raises questions about security in the cryptocurrency sector and the need for careful control over addresses during transfers.
