11-Year-Old Ethereum Wallet Moves $4.6M, Foils Scam in Minutes
An 11-year-old Ethereum wallet moved $4.6 million and dodged a scam set up in minutes
An Ethereum wallet created at the network’s launch in 2015 sent its first-ever outgoing transaction on Monday, moving 2,154.94 ETH worth about $4.6 million while avoiding an address-poisoning scam that appeared within minutes of its initial activity.
The wallet, 0x7dDd57165c87A2707f025DCFC2508c09834759Bc, received its first ether in Ethereum’s genesis block in July 2015 and later took in another 755 ETH in March 2016. It then remained dormant with no outgoing transfers until November 9, 2026.
At 22:04 UTC, the wallet sent a 0.05 ETH test payment (about $106) to a new address beginning with 0x1321beb8 and ending in 1A44. Blockchain watchers including Whale Alert flagged the movement, and the test transaction quickly drew unwanted attention.
Within three minutes, the old wallet began receiving a stream of tiny incoming transfers—often called “dust”—from two addresses designed to resemble the intended recipient. One lookalike began with 0x13211f and the other with 0x1321FB, and both ended in 1A44, closely matching the visible parts of the legitimate address.
Etherscan labels show accounts tagged “Fake_Phishing” funded both lookalike addresses. The more active of the two sent 43 dust payments, and on-chain data indicates the scam-linked addresses received funding within minutes of the initial 0.05 ETH test transfer.
This pattern reflects a common address poisoning tactic: attackers send small transactions from lookalike addresses so they appear in a target’s transaction history. The goal is to increase the chance a user later copies and pastes the wrong address from recent activity—especially if a wallet interface shows only a shortened version of an address.
The wallet owner took additional steps before moving the larger sum. At 22:20 UTC, the new wallet sent 0.01 ETH onward, and almost the entire amount returned about three minutes later, serving as a further check before proceeding.
After that, the original 2015 wallet completed the main transfer, sending 2,154.94 ETH to the correct address starting 0x1321beb8. The recipient wallet now holds roughly 2,155 ETH.
The episode highlights how quickly automated bots can react to on-chain signals. A small test transaction from a long-dormant address can act as a cue that a larger transfer may follow, prompting scammers to set up lookalike addresses and attempt to seed them into a wallet’s history.
It also underscores a longer-term risk of the tactic: once a poisoned address appears in transaction history, it can remain there indefinitely. The case adds to a broader 2026 trend of very old wallets becoming active again as some holders recover keys and consolidate or move funds.
