Fat Fingered User Mistakenly Sends $1M in ETH to NFT Seller Instead of Bid

In the early hours of yesterday, a crypto investor made a costly error by sending a whopping $1 million in ethereum (ETH) to a non-fungible token (NFT) seller instead of directly placing a bid for the digital collectible on NFT marketplace OpenSea.

According to data on Etherscan, the user, who wanted to acquire the Bored Ape NFT, mistakenly sent 230 ETH, valued at over $1 million at the time of the transaction, to the seller.

However, the buyer immediately realized his mistake and added a note in the data field requesting a refund.

“Hi, please help send my ETH back. I sent it by mistake while trying to make a bid. You can take a 10% bounty. Thank you very much,” the note reads.

Fortunately, the Ape seller had compassion and returned the ethereum to the user who made the costly mistake.

What Really Went Down

Narrating his ordeal on the popular microblogging platform Twitter, the buyer, whose username is @dt_chain, stated that he wanted to transfer the ETH to another wallet instead he wrongly copied the NFT seller’s address instead of his address.

According to the buyer, he had wanted to acquire a Bored Ape NFT that has laser eyes, a robotic body, and a moon suit.

He was intrigued when he saw the BAYC 9452 version, which has all the characteristics he wanted.

Desperate to buy it, @dt_chain noted that he transferred 655 ETH into his wallet as he was prepared to buy the digital collectible at any cost.

While he was still fantasizing about the digital ape on his mobile, he copied the seller’s address to view whether it has been active recently on his mobile wallet, with the hope that his bid will be accepted.

@dt_chain said at the same time, he wanted to move 230 ETH from the wallet where he had earlier transferred the 655 units for the bid.

Unfortunately, he mistakenly input the NFT seller’s address in the receiver’s field, instead of his second wallet address.

Realizing his mistakes almost immediately, he made several attempts to get a refund, including adding a note in the transaction data field and also messaging the seller on Twitter.

The seller, who had no intention of keeping the funds, finally returned it.

@dt_chain, who was still determined to buy the ape, finally got his wish by paying 347 ETH for the digital collectible.

Always Double Check Transaction Details

The development is one of the reasons why crypto traders are advised to always cross-check the details of a transaction before authorizing it.

This is because once the mistake is made, there is little to no way of rectifying it unless the recipient is kind enough to refund you.

Earlier in May, BlockFi mistakenly sent over 700 BTC to its customers and subsequently requested that the funds be transferred back to it.