Address poisoning attacks on Ethereum have surged 612% post-Fusaka upgrade, highlighting a significant rise in fraudulent activity.
Address poisoning incidents on the Ethereum network have surged dramatically, with a staggering 612% increase in "dust" transactions following the Fusaka upgrade. Data from Etherscan reveals that transactions involving USDT skyrocketed from 4.2 million to 29.9 million in just 90 days after the upgrade's activation on December 3, 2025.
This rise in fraudulent activity is attributed to reduced network fees, which have emboldened malicious actors to engage in tactics that clutter victims' transaction histories with zero-value microtransactions. The primary aim is to deceive users into copying a fraudulent address that resembles a legitimate one.
Statistics show a significant uptick in various cryptocurrencies during the same period: USDC transactions increased by 473% (from 2.6 million to 14.9 million), DAI by 470% (from 142,000 to 811,000), and ETH by 62% (from 104.5 million to 169.7 million). In contrast, the number of regular transactions over $0.01 remained stable, highlighting the fraudulent nature of this spike.
Mechanics of the Attack
Fraudsters monitor large transactions and generate fake addresses that mimic the first and last characters of recently used addresses. They then send dust transactions to embed these fake addresses in the victims' transaction histories, hoping that users will mistakenly send funds to these fraudulent addresses.
In some cases, multiple hacker groups compete to poison a single wallet. Etherscan data suggests that within moments of a legitimate transfer, a victim may see up to 13 fake transactions from different attackers.
User reports, such as one from a user named Nima, highlight the severity of the issue, as he received over 89 email alerts about transactions after making just two stablecoin transfers. He expressed concern about the rapidity of the attacks, stating, "It took them <30 mins to create all of these on mainnet. So many will fall victim to this."
Magnitude of the Threat
Between July 2022 and June 2024, Blockchain Address Poisoning experts documented around 17 million attempts to mislead users through address substitution, impacting approximately 1.3 million individuals and resulting in total losses exceeding $79 million. The threat is particularly pronounced in networks with lower fees, such as Binance Smart Chain, where fake transfers are reported to be 1355% more frequent than on Ethereum.
While the success rate of these attacks is low—about 0.01%—the high volume of attempts makes them lucrative for fraudsters. Etherscan noted, "Instead of targeting individual addresses, campaigns often send out thousands or even millions of fake transfers. With enough attempts, even a tiny success rate can yield significant profits." Notably, in December 2025, an investor lost nearly $50 million in an address poisoning scheme, prompting Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to call for enhanced security measures to combat this growing menace.
