Address poisoning
Address poisoning is a scam in which an attacker creates an address that looks almost identical to one the victim has used and plants it in the victim's transaction history, for example by sending a tiny transaction from it, hoping the victim copies it by mistake and sends funds there. The ERC-20 standard requires zero-value transfers to be treated as normal transfers that fire the Transfer event. MetaMask tells users to check the middle characters of an address, not just the start and end.
What the sources say
| Source | Quote | Link |
|---|---|---|
| MetaMask support: definition | "Address poisoning is a scam where attackers send you a tiny transaction from an address that closely resembles one you've used before, hoping you'll copy it by mistake and send funds to them instead." | support.metamask.io |
| MetaMask support: check middle characters | "Always verify the destination address carefully before sending — pay particular attention to the middle characters, not just the start and end." | support.metamask.io |
| Trezor support: lookalike address planted in history | "Address poisoning, also called address spoofing, is a scam that tricks you into sending crypto to an attacker’s address. The attacker creates an address that looks almost identical to one you’ve used before and plants it in your transaction history, where it’s easy to copy by mistake." | trezor.io |
| EIP-20: zero-value transfers | "Transfers of 0 values MUST be treated as normal transfers and fire the Transfer event." | eips.ethereum.org |
Where the sources differ
The sources differ on the bait: MetaMask describes a tiny transaction, while other descriptions speak of zero-value transfers. No regulator or government source on this term was found; the sources are wallet makers' support pages and the EIP-20 text.
Related terms
See also
Checked against the sources on 2026-11-01.