RPC scam cases, do not easily believe advice from strangers to modify wallet settings

The SlowMist team has written an article explaining a new type of scam recently discovered. In this scam, beginners may see incorrect balances in their wallets due to malicious RPC links, leading them to be deceived into exchanging fiat currency or USDT.

RPC Please Find Appropriate Source

SlowMist technology team has indicated a new type of cryptocurrency scam recently. This scam typically takes place in offline physical transactions, using USDT as the payment method. Malicious actors exploit the RPC Remote Procedure Call of the Ethereum node for fraudulent activities.

It is important to pay attention to whether the RPC comes from a legitimate source. Generally, the RPC networks set by default in wallets are usually legitimate sources. However, some beginners may follow the advice of scammers and manually modify them to malicious links, resulting in incorrect wallet balance displays.

RPC Scam Process

First, scammers will induce the target users to download the authentic wallet and gain the user's trust by providing 1 USDT and a small amount of ETH as bait. Then, the scammers will guide the users to redirect their Ethereum's RPC URL to the scammer's own node.

This node has actually been modified by the fraudster using Tenderly's forking feature, allowing the USDT balance of the user to be counterfeited, making it appear as if the scammer has transferred the funds to the user's wallet. The wallet will also display as if everything is normal.

Subsequently, when the user sees an increase in wallet balance, they may mistakenly believe that the other party's cryptocurrency has been transferred, thus falling victim to the scam.

Conclusion: Do Not Easily Trust Strangers' Advice

If a user interacts with decentralized exchanges through connecting a wallet, they are essentially interacting with RPC and the blockchain. Typically, all types of wallets will automatically connect to secure nodes, requiring no adjustments from the users. However, trusting others easily and linking wallets to untrusted nodes may lead to malicious modifications of wallet balances and transaction information, resulting in financial losses.