A large-scale phishing incident has recently been exposed again. An institution or whale was precisely targeted during a transfer operation, resulting in a direct loss of 50 million USDT. This case highlights a common security vulnerability. Let’s see what exactly happened.

The incident is not complicated. The victim withdrew 50 million USDT from a major exchange. To be cautious, they first sent a small test transfer of 50 USDT to the target address for verification. The process seemed fine, so they prepared for a large transfer. But by then, the phishing attacker had already set a trap—creating a malicious address that shares the first and last three characters with the victim’s test address, then transferred 0.005 USDT to the victim.

People tend to copy addresses from recent transaction records to save time. The victim, following normal procedures, copied the address from the transaction history, unaware that it had already been compromised. As a result, the 50 million USDT flowed directly into the attacker’s account. Even more frightening, the attacker didn’t hesitate for half a second—immediately exchanged the funds for DAI stablecoin, then swapped to ETH, and finally laundered the money through mixing tools before disappearing. The entire process was seamless and difficult to defend against.

How can such tragedies be avoided? First, large transfers must be manually checked digit by digit, especially avoiding lazy copying from transaction history—either type the address manually or verify through a second information source. Second, use a blockchain explorer to review the address’s transaction history for anomalies. Third, never skip the small test transfer step; paying 50 USDT for security worth 50 million is well worth it. Fourth, and most often overlooked: stay vigilant. Any strange transfer request, unfamiliar address change, or unusual prompt should be considered carefully for an extra second. Finally, if you notice suspicious activity, immediately contact the platform to freeze the account and pursue recovery.

The compromised address has been exposed in the community: 0xcB80784ef74C98A89b6Ab8D96ebE890859600819. This case reminds us that in the crypto world, there is no such thing as absolute security—only more cautious operations.