The cryptocurrency world is sometimes full of spectacular mistakes, like the one that cost an anonymous user a fortune to transfer money to Ethereum. He wanted to transfer a modest 0.87 ETH, worth about $2,200, but mistakenly set the transaction fee to a whopping 34.26 ETH, which translates to over $90,000.
How did this error happen? Where did the transfer to Ethereum come from?
This incident is a classic example of a “fat finger error”, an error resulting from inadvertently entering the wrong amount. On an everyday basis, the transfer to Ethereum is much lower, oscillating around a few dollars, which means the user overpaid by over 1,783,900%. Quite a lot, there’s no hiding it 😉
Such mistakes are not uncommon. For example, in October 2023, an NFT trader paid $1.6 million for a token worth just $1,000. Earlier in April 2023, a collector on the OpenSea platform spent 100 ETH (about $191,000) on a free NFT, prompting accusations of market manipulation.
While most of these incidents are due to human error, some suggest they could be part of more complex strategies, such as money laundering. A user could work with an Ethereum validator to make sure the transaction is confirmed as planned.
You have to be careful with transfers – there are not only scammers and hackers lurking, but also our mistakes
These incidents show how important it is to be careful in cryptocurrency operations. Even a small mistake can lead to huge financial losses, and the complex nature of the blockchain makes it virtually impossible to recover such funds. Of course, there are situations in which it is possible to recover such lost cryptocurrencies, but these are rather rare exceptions. Users must be aware of the risks and exercise special caution when making transactions.
It is worth adding that hackers often like to exploit such errors, using the “poisoned address” method. It involves copying the beginning and end of the wallet address in the hope that the user will only check the address superficially. This is why it is so important to carefully check both the shipping address of your assets and the amount. An erroneously overstated transfer to Ethereum is an exception confirming this rule.
