Etherscan, a block explorer for the Ethereum blockchain, announced on April 10 a feature designed to prevent users from falling victim to scams.
Ether scan to hide zero value transfers
Etherscan said that to protect users from scams called address poisoning attacks, it will hide zero value token transfers by default.
While the site previously grayed out transactions with zero value, those transactions are now completely hidden under the new feature, as seen below.
During an address poisoning attack, a scammer creates a “spoofed” address that is nearly identical to the one their target has previously transacted with. The scammer then sends zero value transfers from the spoofed address to the target’s address. The target can confuse the two similar addresses and accidentally send money to the spoofed address.
Since this approach relies on user error and is a form of phishing, concealing transactions that contain no value can make the scam much less attractive to victims.
Etherscan noted that avoiding scams in a neutral way is “a never-ending cat-and-mouse game” and said it recognized the value of “uncensored” blockchain records. As such, users can toggle the option in settings, it said.
Etherscan already includes other anti-scam features: for example, it flags addresses known to be involved in scams and hacks.
Zero value attacks are becoming more and more common
The type of scam in question has gained more attention in the crypto industry. Two blockchain companies, X-explore and WuBlockchain, estimate that worthless transfer phishing and related attacks have led to thefts on Ethereum of up to $32 million.
Coinbase, meanwhile, suggested that this type of attack originated in November 2022 and led to $19 million in thefts across platforms by February 2023.
The Ethereum-focused wallet Metamask also warned of address poisoning scams in January 2023 and provided users with ways to protect themselves.
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