GlossaryIntermediate
Ice Phishing
A phishing attack that tricks a user into signing a malicious token-approval transaction, rather than directly revealing a private key.
Ice phishing is a phishing attack that tricks a user into signing a malicious token-approval transaction — granting an attacker-controlled address permission to move the user's tokens — rather than directly tricking the user into revealing a seed phrase or private key.
Because the user technically signs the transaction with their own legitimate wallet, it can look like an ordinary interaction, making it a particularly effective pattern. See Kaavon's "How to Safely Approve and Revoke Token Allowances" guide for how to check and reverse an approval.
Examples
- A fake "claim your airdrop" page that requests a broad token-approval signature, rather than a simple transfer, is a common ice phishing pattern.
- Ice phishing can succeed even against a user who would never share their seed phrase, since it relies on a legitimate-looking approval signature instead.