Uniswap Founder Warns Against ENS Domain Scams: Details

Hayden Adams, the founder of decentralized crypto exchange (DEX), Uniswap, recently warned users against fake Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain scams, asking investors to remain cautious and refrain from falling for deceptive user interfaces (UIs) in crypto wallets.

As reported earlier by TheCoinRise, there has been a significant rise in phishing and crypto scam incidents across various Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, with approximately $55 million stolen across various EVM chains, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, BNB, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, and others. The number of victims that have fallen for the scams went above 40,000, as per a report. 

Uniswap Founder Cautions Community

The founder of Uniswap, the largest DEX built atop the Ethereum Network, highlighted in a post on social media platform X how scammers are creating fake clones of Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains and trying to deceive users and potentially siphon funds.

In the X post, Adams expressed his concerns, adding that this is the “first time I’ve seen this scam, so posting it as a heads up for users and interfaces.” 

Notably, as reported earlier by TheCoinRise, the Adams’ X (formerly Twitter) account was compromised in July 2023, which was followed by a swift response from the Uniswap Foundation asking users not to click on the suspicious links shared by the hackers.

Uniswap Founder Explains the Scam

The Uniswap founder explained how the scam works in the X post, noting that the scammers first purchase an ENS domain that closely resembles a legitimate address but then cunningly substitute alphabetic characters with alphanumeric sequences.

Users who innocently input the legitimate Ethereum address into their cryptocurrency wallet interfaces might be in for an unexpected twist. Instead of seeing the intended recipient’s address as the primary result, these interfaces display the scammer’s address. This misleading information could potentially lead users to unknowingly send their funds to the scammer’s address.

Additionally, Adams also gave an example where the hacker purchased the ENS domain “[myEthereumAddress].eth,” which closely resembled his own Ethereum address, “0x11E4857Bb9993a50c685A79AFad4E6F65D518DDa.”

ENS Founder Reacts

Nick Johnson, the founder of ENS, stated that “interfaces shouldn’t autocomplete names at all; it’s far too dangerous,” while confirming: 

“I think we advise against it in our UX guidelines.”

Last month, Michael Saylor, the founder of MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, also warned investors against Bitcoin scams. He stated in an X post that scammers have been using MicroStrategy’s reputation for fraudulent purposes, promising freebies and other exciting offers.