Ethereum non-custodial wallet MetaMask has issued a warning about a new emerging scam where malicious actors “poison” users’ transaction histories.
In a series of tweets, the web3 wallet explained how the “address poisoning” exploit is employed by scammers.
First, users are sent tokens worth $0 to their wallets which the attackers make copies of using vanity address generators. These fake ones have identical first and last characters of their targeted victim’s wallet address, laying the perfect trap for unsuspecting users.
Even though hackers would not able to gain access to the customer’s wallets, those with the habit of not verifying the wallet address from the transaction history might find themselves in trouble.
MetaMask appealed to users against simply copying from the history and urged them to double-check every single character of the wallet address to ensure the funds are sent to the correct wallet.
Earlier on May 2022, MetaMask wallets became the target of a Phishing scam after malicious pop-ups emerged in crypto data aggregator CoinGecko that prompted users to connect their ETH wallets.
That said, the leading crypto wallet recently announced terminating its ties with Wyre amid reports of the crypto payment platform planning to wind down operations in the near future.
MetaMask took to Twitter on Jan. 5 to state that it has removed Wyre from its mobile aggregator, which allows users to buy crypto directly through its digital wallet.
“We’re currently working on extension removal and appreciate your patience,” MetaMask said, asking users not to use Wyre on the mobile aggregator.
In accordance with the notice issued, MetaMask also stated that it continues to extend support to a wide variety of payment gateways, including Transak, MoonPay, and Sardine. Per MetaMask, the services are accessible through transfers, bank cards, and Apple Pay.
Ethereum Gains Further Utility
Last year, the digital payments giant PayPal teamed up with MetaMask parent firm ConsenSys to allow MetaMask users to purchase and transfer Ethereum.
In 2020, PayPal started letting users buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin. In May of this year, they announced intentions to expand their services to let users transfer that cryptocurrency into third-party wallets.
MetaMask is only compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine [EVM] supported blockchains. Joseph Lubin, chief executive officer of ConsenSys is also a co-founder of Ethereum.