2025 has been challenging for the crypto industry, with an unsettling amount of devastating scams across the sector. | Credit: The Washington Post / Getty Images.
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Key Takeaways
A victim lost $2.6 million in USDT after being tricked by lookalike wallet addresses.
Ripple recently warned that scams tend to spike during bull markets.
With 18 major attacks recorded in April alone and incidents like the $1.46 billion Bybit breach, 2025 has been a tough year for the crypto industry so far.
A victim has lost over $2 million worth of Tether’s stablecoin ($USDT) in a targeted address poisoning scam involving zero-value transfers.
The incident underscores the increasing complexity of crypto-related scams, with over 18 major attacks recorded in April alone.
USDT Scam
According to a report by Web3 security firm Cyvers, the victim was scammed twice within a three-hour period, losing a total of $2.6 million in USDT.
The victim was targeted with an address poisoning scam, a tactic where attackers send zero-value transactions from a wallet address that closely resembles a legitimate one the victim uses or interacts with.
🚨ALERT🚨Our system has detected~2.6M $USDT loss from a targeted address poisoning scam involving zero-value transfers. A single victim was repeatedly scammed by the same attacker address.
The goal is to trick the victim into accidentally copying and pasting the scammer’s wallet address when making a future transaction.
In this case, the victim first sent $843,000 in USDT to the scammer.
Just three hours later, they mistakenly transferred an additional $1.7 million in USDT to the same fraudulent address.
“We are continuously monitoring such scammers and working to prevent these incidents in real time,” Cyvers stated.
Ripple Warning
This incident follows a recent warning from Ripple, urging users to stay alert for scams, which often increase during crypto market rallies.
In a blog post, the blockchain company pointed out the growing number of scams involving AI-generated content, including deepfake videos of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse “giving away XRP.”
1️⃣ @Ripple will NEVER ask you to send XRP 2️⃣ Brad, Monica, David, Stu, or anyone from Ripple won’t either 3️⃣ Avoid clicking suspicious links 4️⃣ Always verify official accounts before engaging
“These posts include branding and profile pictures that look exactly like what the companies, individuals or government authorities use,” Ripple wrote.
“It’s important to be able to spot which accounts are fake, and which posts are cryptocurrency giveaway scams.”
Crypto Scams in 2025
2025 has been challenging for the crypto industry, with an unsettling number of scams across the sector.
In April alone, 18 major hacks were reported. The most severe involved a fake Bitcoin (BTC) transaction resulting in a loss of $330.7 million.
In February, Dubai-based exchange Bybit suffered a $1.46 billion loss after hackers deployed malware to trick the platform into approving unauthorized transactions.
ByBit exchange hack, the largest in crypto’s history. | Source: Elliptic
This theft has been labeled the largest heist in history, surpassing the previous crypto record of $611 million stolen from Poly Network in 2021, most of which was later returned.
It also exceeded Saddam Hussein’s $1 billion looting of Iraq’s Central Bank in 2003.
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
