Uniswap founder Hayden Adams warns of scammers exploiting ENS domains to manipulate user interfaces of crypto wallets and target victims.

Bad actors have come up with a new method to deceive individuals, convincing them that they are sending crypto to a legitimate address by manipulating user interfaces with Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains.

In a recent X post on Feb. 14, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams alarmed the crypto community about a new scam targeting inattentive users, saying scammers are now purchasing ENS domains resembling legitimate addresses but substituting alphabetic characters with alphanumeric sequences. For instance:

• Legitimate Ethereum address: 0x11E4857Bb9993a50c685A79AFad4E6F65D518DDa.
• Scammer’s address: 0x11E4857Bb9993a50c685A79AFad4E6F65D518DDa.eth.

This tactic confuses unsuspecting users, as certain wallet interfaces display the scammer’s address as the top result when pasting a legitimate address. Adams emphasized the critical need for interfaces to implement filters to combat such scams and urged users to exercise caution.

ENS is a domain name system built on the Ethereum blockchain, which allows users to replace long, complex Ethereum addresses with human-readable names like “vitalik.eth.” Responding to the issue, ENS founder Nick Johnson stated that the team would advise against auto-completing names in the search bar, considering the feature “far too dangerous.”