Bitcoin Scams: How a Hidden Feature Opens the Door to 80,000 Stolen Coins

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In an unsettling pas de deux of digital deception, a nefarious new scam has emerged, clutching at the gossamer threads of Bitcoin‘s elusive OP_RETURN feature, raining misfortune upon an address—whatever that infernal address might have once dreamed of being—merely a quagmire of sordid cryptocurrency history: the 1Feex wallet, now an orphan bearing a lamentable 80,000 BTC pilfered from the shattered remnants of Mt. Gox.

The dread $8.7 billion residing within those digital vaults looms large, becoming a veritable Pandora’s chest for any fraudster with a lurking penchant for the legally dubious and the comically absurd. 🎭💰

How OP_RETURN Is Assisting Scammers in Their Quest for Mt. Gox’s Untouched Fortune

Ah, the Mt. Gox debacle of 2014 – a veritable soap opera wherein 850,000 BTC vanished as if they were mere wisps of smoke in the digital ether. Precious few, a meager 140,000 BTC, were salvaged for eager creditors, leaving behind wallets like the notorious 1Feex untouched until this very moment of farce.

What cunning mastermind, we wonder, concocts such a scheme? Oh, they appear to court two tangled endings—a clever charade to extract sensitive data masquerading under the guise of the wallet’s benighted custodian, and, oh my dear Watson, the audacious laying of a foundation for a legal claim, perhaps akin to those lawsuits we’ve seen before, demanding access to wealth thought lost forever.

BitMEX Research has deciphered this scandalous plot, involving trivial transactions directed at ancient Bitcoin addresses through the OBSCURE *gasp!* OP_RETURN field—a forlorn space in the blockchain, perhaps once reserved for poetic couplets or encrypted sonnets, now sullied by such ignoble aspirations.

One small transaction, aimed at the dormant 1Feex address, casually directs its hapless viewers to a decidedly fishy website. 🎣🕵️‍♂️

“NOTICE TO OWNER: see www.salomon[]bros.[]com/owner_notice,” they chirped, BitMEX Research discreetly uncovered.

This so-called website—oh, the audacity!—boasts a claimed affiliation with the illustrious Wall Street firm Salomon Brothers, yet BitMEX researchers cleverly unveil these links as mere ectoplasm born from the imaginations of charlatans.

“Do NOT fill in this form,” the sagacious team advised.

In a tableau reeking of irony, the site seeks personal identification data under the flimsy guise of legal legitimacy, a masquerade worth a smirk or two.

scam? or hack, with legal cover?

— Matthew Sigel, recovering CFA (@matthew_sigel) July 8, 2025

Such reflections from Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, encapsulate the angst roiling within the crypto community, as they grapple with the legalese masquerading as innocuous decorum.

Why Calvin Ayre’s Legal History Resurfaces in OP_RETURN Ownership Controversy

And lo! In a magnificent twist of fate, users swiftly recalled Calvin Ayre—a perennial player within the annals of Bitcoin SV, a figure oft draped in controversial whispers. Ayre’s financial misadventures involving claims over dormant or pilfered Bitcoin re-emerge from the murk, like a shadow from a poorly scripted horror flick.

Calvin funded a case where ownership of this exact address was claimed. Legal action was taken against the Bitcoin developers over it

— BitMEX Research (@BitMEXResearch) July 8, 2025

Alas, some skeptics donned their critical eye, sprinkling salt on this narrative, as one astute user sought proof of claimed phishing mischief associated with Ayre.

I’m not following. So there is a shady website listed in the OP_RETURN that could collect personal information?

Why would somebody who moves 80k coins participate in such a scam? There’s a short list of people this could be?

— Bryan (@Bryan10309) July 8, 2025

Yet, within this murky sea of speculation, the truth shimmers dimly: the OP_RETURN feature now resides in a murky gray area, vacillating between spammy gibberish and pseudo-legal ploys lurking just beneath the surface.

Meanwhile, this rather comedic yet tragic spectacle unfolds amidst a heated skirmish regarding OP_RETURN limits within Bitcoin Core. Amid the fracas, BeInCrypto reported on proposals to constrain OP_RETURN data to a mere 80 bytes, a nagging concern over network bloat and spam rearing its head like an eternal nemesis.

While the proposal flits about in limbo, new frauds may yet furnish arguments for stricter controls, as if to say, “Oh, the irony!”

“OP_RETURN outputs greater than 83 bytes will increase significantly, UTXO bloat will keep getting worse and there will be more garbage on chain. This is going to age like a bad tattoo,” pronounced the self-proclaimed Bitcoin oracle, Jimmy Song, with all the flair of a stage performer.

Furthermore, as the saga unfolds, a fissure among Bitcoin Core developers emerged, spurred by Peter Todd’s intrepid proposal to trim OP_RETURN even further—a battle between innovation and defensive prudence, harking back to fierce philosophical debates echoing through the ages.

Also, Bitcoin should not follow an “L2 centric” roadmap. It’s actually what killed Ethereum.

Bitcoin is money and should be focused on that.

— Alishiya (@alipaints) April 29, 2025

And so, as this unfortunate new exploit takes center stage, we see the OP_RETURN feature twisted into new shapes, a papercraft pirate ship embarking on a journey of phishing adventures, preying upon the vulnerable and the unsuspecting beneath the scintillating veneer of legal ambiguity and dormant riches.

Billion-dollar stakes are on this board, dear friends, as the fragile line between technical liberation and exploitable avenues once again ignites our curiosities and warnings alike. Just picture it: OP_RETURN transactions, permanently etched into Bitcoin’s ledger, a stoic testament to human folly! 📜💔

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2025-07-09 15:33