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Results for “Dusting attack vs Address poisoning”
Dusting attack
A dusting attack is when someone sends tiny amounts of crypto, called dust, to many addresses, then watches the blockchain to see which of those amounts are later spent together. Spending them together reveals that the addresses share an owner, which can help identify who that owner is.
What it means for you. Unrequested dust costs you nothing while it sits there; the privacy loss comes when you spend it alongside your other coins. Some wallets let you choose which coins a payment spends, so an unexpected small amount can be left untouched. On account-based chains, unknown tiny token deposits can also be lures, with a name or link that points to a scam site.
Sources: Summarizing and Analyzing the Privacy-Preserving Techniques in Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies (arXiv), ethereum.org: Security and scam prevention (airdrop scams) · checked 4 October 2026
Address poisoning
Address poisoning is a scam where an attacker creates a wallet address that starts and ends with the same characters as one you use, then sends a tiny or zero-value transfer from it so it appears in your history. The hope is that you later copy the fake address instead of the real one.
What it means for you. Wallets often shorten addresses to the first and last few characters, which is exactly what the fake one matches. Compare the whole address, not just the ends, and copy it from a saved contact or the real recipient rather than from your transaction history. A payment to the wrong address cannot be pulled back.
Source: ERC-8117 (draft): Anti-Poisoning Compact EVM Address Format, Motivation · checked 4 October 2026