Clipboard malware: check the address before you send
Some malware swaps the address you copied for one of its own. A thirty second habit makes it useless.
A clipper is a small piece of malware that watches your clipboard. When it sees something that looks like a crypto address, it quietly replaces it with an address the attacker controls. You copy your address, paste it, and what shows up in the field belongs to someone else. It works on both computers and phones.
The habit that beats it
- Copy the address from your wallet's Receive screen.
- Paste it.
- Compare what you pasted with what your wallet shows. Check the start, the end and a chunk of the middle.
It takes thirty seconds and the clipper stops working, because you catch the switch before you send anything.
Other good habits
- Install wallets only from their official website or their app store listing.
- Be careful with pirated software and browser extensions you do not need.
- Use the QR code when you send from your phone.
- For large amounts, send a small test first.
On Swapea
As soon as you create the swap, your receiving address appears in full on the swap page, before you send anything. Look at it there and compare it with your wallet one last time. Your deposit address comes with a QR code, so you can scan it with your mobile wallet.
Questions
Does a QR code protect me from clipboard malware?
Scanning a QR code with your phone skips your computer's clipboard entirely, and that helps. Still, compare the result with the address on screen.
Does Swapea check the address I paste?
We check that the format matches the coin and network you chose, and your swap page shows it in full before you send your deposit. We cannot know whether the address is yours, so comparing it with your wallet is still up to you.
