Address Poisoning: Why Copying From Your Transaction History Is Dangerous

A surprising number of crypto losses do not involve hacked accounts at all. The victim simply copies a deposit address from their own transaction history, and that address turns out to belong to a scammer. The trick is called address poisoning. Attackers send a tiny or zero-value transfer from an address that starts and ends with the same characters as one you use often, hoping you will grab it from your recent list next time. For anyone in Bangladesh moving stablecoins between exchanges and personal wallets, it is worth building a habit that makes this attack useless.

How the trick lands in your history

Blockchains are public, so anyone can see which addresses you transact with. A bot generates a lookalike address that matches the first few and last few characters of a real counterparty, then sends you a dust transfer from it. Your wallet now shows that lookalike in the recent activity list, sitting right next to the genuine one. Because most people only check the beginning and end of a long address, the fake passes a quick glance.

Always copy from the exchange deposit screen

Whenever you send funds to Binance, OKX, Bybit or Bitget, open that exchange's app, go to the deposit page for the asset, choose the network and copy the address fresh from there. Do not use the address that appears in your wallet's history or in a previous chat message. If the sending wallet supports an address book, save the verified address once with a clear name and pick it from the book rather than from recent transactions.

Check more than the ends

After pasting, compare a block of characters from the middle of the address as well as the first and last groups. Some people read the address aloud in chunks of four. Exchanges also let you scan a QR code from the deposit screen, which removes copy and paste from the process entirely when sending from a phone wallet. Keep the amount small the first time you use any new route.

Clean up after a suspicious transfer

If you notice an unexpected tiny incoming transaction from an address that resembles one of yours, do not interact with it. Most wallets let you hide or label spam tokens and transactions. Label your genuine destinations clearly in the address book so the difference is obvious, and tell family members who share the same wallet setup about the pattern.

Risk boundary: Bangladesh Crypto Guide

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Scenario checkpoint

• Copy deposit addresses fresh from the exchange deposit page instead of transaction history.
• Compare characters from the middle of the address as well as the first and last groups.
• Save verified destinations in the wallet address book and pick from the book each time.
• Ignore and hide unexpected dust transfers from addresses that resemble your usual ones.