A few months ago, I personally suffered a painful financial loss due to clipboard malware that secretly changed my cryptocurrency wallet address. I was in the process of transferring around $1,800 in Bitcoin to a trusted exchange to trade. Confident and familiar with the process, I quickly copied the exchange’s official wallet address from their website and pasted it into my wallet’s transfer field.

Without hesitation, I clicked “Send.” After some time, my transaction still hadn’t shown up in my exchange account, making me anxious. Concerned, I checked the transaction details closely. To my shock, the address I sent the Bitcoin to was entirely different from the one I’d copied. My funds had vanished instantly into an unknown wallet.

Horrified, I researched what had happened and learned about “clipboard hijacking” malware. This type of malicious software secretly replaces wallet addresses copied to your clipboard with scammer-controlled addresses. I quickly scanned my computer and found malware, realizing I had unintentionally downloaded it from an unsecured website weeks earlier.

I immediately removed the malware and secured my system, but my stolen Bitcoin was irrecoverable. This devastating experience taught me an invaluable lesson about cybersecurity: always verify wallet addresses multiple times before transactions, regularly scan devices for malware, and use security software to protect against malicious attacks. Being vigilant and cautious can prevent becoming a victim of similar sophisticated scams.