How to Spot the Scam Behind Letters in Blockchain Addresses

In the rapidly evolving world of blockchain, scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated. One sneaky trick fraudsters use is called a *homograph attack*, where visually similar but different characters are inserted into blockchain addresses to confuse users. This makes two addresses look nearly identical, even though they’re actually different.

For example, at first glance, the ending “CMM” in the following two addresses seems the same, but they are not:

• Address 1: TX1z3qJy1MQcma7VMab2rMrB5JrFvpHCMM (Latin letters)
• Address 2: TX1z3qJy1MQcma7VMab2rMrB5JrFvpHСММ (includes Cyrillic letters “С” and “М”)

How to Detect This Scam

To protect yourself from falling for this trick, follow these steps:

Method 1: Use the “Inspect” Feature

• Copy the address: Right-click the suspicious address and select “Copy”；
• Right-click and choose “Inspect”: In your browser or wallet interface, right-click the address again and select “Inspect” or “Inspect Element” (this is usually available in Chrome or Firefox)；
• Check the character encoding: In the inspection view, you can see the actual code behind each character in the address. Compare characters that look alike, and check if any of them are encoded differently (such as Cyrillic or other character sets).

Method 2: Use “F12” Developer Tools

• Press F12: This opens the HTML code of the page you’re viewing；
• Find the relevant HTML element: In the “Elements” tab, locate the text that contains the blockchain address；
• Check the character’s Unicode: Look for the address in the HTML code and inspect each character. You can view the actual Unicode values to identify if different character sets are being used；
• For example:

- The Latin letter C (U+0043) and the Cyrillic letter С (U+0421) may look alike, but their codes are different.

- Similarly, the Latin letter M (U+004D) and the Cyrillic letter М (U+041C) are also different characters.

Why Is This Scam Effective?

• Visual Confusion: To the average user, it’s tough to tell the difference between Cyrillic and Latin letters by eye alone；
• No need for advanced tech knowledge: Two addresses may look the same visually, but to a computer, they’re treated as completely different due to the hidden character differences.

How to Avoid This Attack

• Double-check the address: Always take time to verify blockchain addresses, ensuring no characters are being swapped from different alphabets;
• Do a small test transaction: Before sending a large amount, perform a small test transaction to ensure the address is correct;
• Use address verification tools: Rely on secure tools or browser extensions designed to automatically detect homograph attacks and flag suspicious addresses.

By staying vigilant and following these steps, you can better protect yourself from falling victim to these subtle, yet dangerous scams in the blockchain space.