Wallet dusting is an attack used by scammers to try and root out the identity of crypto users and deanonymize them by sending tiny amounts of tokens to a wallet. Blockchain technology lets people remain anonymous when they carry out transactions, though anyone can view the transaction record linked to a wallet.
From time to time, some people may want to break the privacy of the owner of a wallet address that they know has a large crypto holding. To do this, they send a small number of tokens to the wallet address, which may not be noticeable to the owner of the receiving wallet. In addition, they usually send those tokens that have low trading fees.
The purpose of a dust attack is usually to uncover the identity of the owner of a wallet. Unfortunately, some wallet addresses are loaded with cryptocurrencies, and scammers are always looking for ways to access the tokens.
They send the dust to the address, hoping that the user sends the tiny amount of crypto to another address. From there, the scammers start to decipher the identity of the wallet owner. With the information they find, they can decide to craft an elaborate plan to scam the person. It could be through phishing, where they send a cloned email to the address of the wallet's owner. Sometimes, it may end in blackmailing the wallet's owner or using malware to force their victim to part away with cryptocurrencies.
Usually, scammers use dusting attacks together along with other scam tricks.
How to stop this attack?
Scammers can't be stopped from sending tiny amounts of cryptocurrencies to your wallet, but you can stop them from tracking and trying to uncover your identity. One way is not to send any amount sent to you to another address and then flag the assets and stop your wallet from getting used.