Clipboard malware and how to check an address before you send
Some malware swaps the address you copied for one of its own. A thirty second habit that 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 lands in the field is someone else's. It works on desktop and on phones.
The habit that beats it
- Copy the address from your wallet receive screen.
- Paste it.
- Compare what you pasted with what your wallet shows. Check the start, the end and a chunk in the middle.
It takes thirty seconds and makes a clipper useless, because you catch the swap before anything is sent.
Other good habits
- Install wallets only from the official site or app store listing.
- Be careful with cracked software and browser extensions you do not need.
- Use the QR code when sending from your phone.
- For large amounts, send a small test first.
On SwapPrivate
Once the swap is created, your receiving address is shown in full on your 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 from your phone wallet.
Quick answers
Does a QR code protect me from clipboard malware?
Scanning a QR code with your phone avoids the computer clipboard entirely, which helps. You should still compare the result with the address on screen.
Does SwapPrivate check the address I paste?
We check that the format fits the coin and network you picked, and your swap page shows it in full before you send the deposit. We cannot know if it is your address, so comparing it with your wallet is still on you.
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