Plain English
Address poisoning is a scam where an attacker sends you a tiny transaction from an address that looks almost identical to one you recently used. The goal is to trick you into copying their address from your transaction history the next time you send funds.
How it actually works
Crypto users often copy addresses from their own transaction history rather than retype them. Attackers exploit this by generating “vanity” addresses where the first and last few characters match an address you frequently interact with, then send you a dust transaction. Next time you copy-paste from your history, you might grab their poisoned entry instead of the real one — and send the full amount to them.
What it means for you
Two defenses: (1) Always verify the full middle of any address before sending, not just the first/last 4. (2) Use address book / contact features in your wallet for repeated recipients instead of copy-pasting from history. This is one of the cheapest, most preventable losses in self-custody.
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Educational content only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice.