A hacker who managed to steal nearly $70 million in crypto from a whale has returned almost all of it, according to data from the chain.
Earlier this month, a hacker successfully identified a whale using a so-called ‘address poisoning’ scheme.
The scheme involves sending someone a small amount of cryptocurrency with an address similar to the victim’s wallet. The tactic aims to trick the victim into copying the bad actor’s address from their transaction history and having the crypto sent to that wallet instead.
Blockchain security firm CertiK notes that the scammer faked a transfer of 0.05 Ethereum (ETH), tricking the victim into sending 1,155 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) worth $69.3 million to the wrong address. The hacker then exchanged the WBTC stack for 23,000 ETH.
However, after an altercation over Etherscan’s messaging service, the hacker appears to have been forced to send the crypto assets back to the whale.
According to blockchain tracking company Arkham, the hacker has returned almost all the stolen money in a flurry of transactions in recent days. Arkham’s records show that the whale was completely created and now holds 22,960 ETH worth $66.33 million
The hacker never attempted to cover up the stolen funds through crypto mixers or further trading.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,881, down 1.43% in the past 24 hours.
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Generated image: Midjourney
