There are reports of a new scam using hacked Ethereum Remote Procedure Call (RPC) nodes to target people who use the imToken wallet. Security company Slowmist found the plan on April 26. It uses physical transactions involving USDT (Tether) and ETH (Ethereum) to trick people who aren’t paying attention.
The scam works by getting people to download the real imToken wallet app, which gives them 1 USDT and small amounts of ETH as incentives. Once a person falls for the scam, they are told to change their ETH RPC URL to connect to a node controlled by the scammer that has been hacked to show fake wallet amounts.
Ethereum RPC wallet scam
RPC is an important part of developing decentralized applications (dApps) because it makes it easier for apps and blockchains to talk to each other. In this case, Ethereum RPC acts as a go-between for users and nodes, letting users check their balances, send transactions, and deal with smart contracts.
After the RPC URL was changed, victims saw their wallet balances go up, making them think they had gotten a lot of money. But when they try to move miner fees to turn USDT into cash, they find out the trick. The con artist has now disappeared, leaving no sign.
Researchers at Slowmist stress that users’ focus on wallet charging makes them ignore possible risks. Scammers take advantage of this by using convincing methods like sending small amounts of money to build trust.
Slowmist looked into a victim’s wallet further and found that it had received 1 USDT and 0.002 ETH from the scammer’s address. The scammer then sent the money to three other wallets. Tracking tool MistTrack identified the scammer’s address as that of “Pig Butchering Scammers” and linked it to several trading sites.
Because of these changes, Slowmist tells its users to be careful when making purchases and to keep a good sense of doubt to lower their risk of falling victim to fraud. Even though people are more aware of cryptocurrency scams, they still happen. For example, Tom Holland’s X account was hacked to promote crypto scams, and fake Space X gifts were common on YouTube during the April 8 solar eclipse.
