Bitcoin Forum

My question is plain and simple, if one is sending BTC to a particular address and mistype just one or two characters the money won't be sent to just another address (34 characters given in a random gradation - the probability is negligible). So where do those Bitcoins go? Just disappear somehow, or still exist, but fall out of cycle of money. Or they won't be even sent due to Base58Check functions? Can someone professional please expound how this works?

If you only googled before asking: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/194/what-happens-if-i-mistype-the-address-when-making-a-payment

Logically speaking, if you will send bitcoin no matter what address it is, it will send. If you have been mistaken with entering of address then it your fault. Bitcoin cannot be retrieved once you've send it to others. Unless, the person that received your bitcoin accidentally will return it to you.
We always bear to our mind that there are things that we cannot return back. So, we need to double check everything what we did.

Thank you for the reference. But still I don't understand, right in this case the man says he has SENT his Bitcoins, like the TX passed. So what is your opinion on this situation, he got his money back, because the TX hasn't been processed, but just didn't mention it, or he has sent money to an incorrect, but valid address (even though the probability of such occurrence is 1 to 4.3 billion)? Thanks in advance.

If something has a probability od 1 to 4.3 billion than it is the same as saying it will not happen. It is like they say they will punish ONE random person in the whole world and it just so happens it is you. Impossible, isn't it? You would not be particularly worried, would you?

So having established we are speaking about impossibility, there is no point of discussing it any further.

You'll get a much better response to this by posting in the Technical board, or even in Beginners and Help.

It's extremely rare if the scenario is similar to what you've positioned as a question... If mistyping a few characters in an address, most (if not all) wallets won't even let you send the transaction, as the address will return as invalid. You'll get a warning asking you to enter a valid recipient. If the address is valid, kiss your transaction goodbye and then go buy yourself a lottery ticket; you'll have a better chance of winning the lottery than randomizing a character or two of an existing wallet address into another valid address.

If, however, you do manage to send Bitcoin to the wrong address, I would recommend you immediately initiate a double-spend with a high fee to another address that you control.

But there are people, who state that they've sent their Bitcoins to a mistyped address, like in the situation described in the link above. If the checksum would have worked, as I get it, the TX wouldn't even exist, nothing would be sent anywhere. 

The only time I ever sent Bitcoin to an incorrect address was because of an error on my part with copying and pasting the wrong address. It's not because I mistyped a few characters. And those people who have stated that? They're idiots, just like me. I'm willing to bet they copied and pasted the wrong address, too. And I'm also willing to bet that they didn't sit there and type out someone's address in the address field. Either way, if an address is mistyped but it's a valid address, yeah... you're screwed. But again. Very rare. It's definitely not 1 in 4.3 billion ::) but you still have a better shot at winning the lottery.

If you type in the btc sending address incorrectly, it might go btc if there is an address created with btc address, but this event is very unlikely.

If transaction passed there is not much you can do about it - you lost your Bitcoins. Positive thing is that you can learn from your mistake and use copy/paste in future. Writing transaction address letter by letter takes longer time and possibility for mistake is larger.

What about this virus I've heard of that actually changes an address during a copy and paste. Someone mentioned it here but anyone have experience with that

That's not a virus. That's a code that's injected into a site's autofill functions and cookies. For instance, if you're going to a website (let's use a faucet, for example) where they use a cookie to store your Bitcoin address (after you've claimed and submitted your address previously on the site), they're susceptible to this "hack". Yes, it's convenient for you to go to the site and not have to copy and paste your address over and over again. But sites like those are pretty easy to manipulate if they're written in php and have any kind of form submit action on the page. Not a virus, just a quick little hack. And it doesn't change an address during a copy and paste; it changes the browser cookie's store value from your autofilled address to the hacker's.

thanks, I had no idea, it's a crappy thing and I hate how people take advantage but it is rather impressive how these hackers operate. Countries have got ripped off for billions of dollars during transactions. Bonnie and Clyde would be amazed at the amounts you can get without a gun and a fast car.

Thanks for sharing the information. So, there is only one and very rare situation when your money can be sent to an incorrect valid address, but 0 probability that the checksum algorithm failed and BTC was sent to..like nowhere?

that will be a big problem you dont have enough choice to keep your token in new wallet and all your lost will not be recover.

If the address is valid, then you can say "adios!" to your BTC. Which is why it is strongly advisable to copy and paste addresses when sending any currency. Now manually typing addresses with all those characters is plain stupidity (sorry...reality bites)! I don't understand why some would type manually..I mean copy and paste is a lot safer and is so elementary compared to entering every single character one by one! Where is the convenience in that?! Well, the saying goes, some of us need to learn the hard way.

If the wrong address and has been sent BTC, will definitely get to the address and will not be able to come back again. so it is advisable before sending a check back before sending should be careful and check back the destination BTC address

       Everytime you do a transaction there is always a confirmation if your address use to send is valid or not. Well,if the address you enter is invalid then your coins is still in your hands but if ever you mistype even a single letter or number in your address and it is valid,then just say goodbye to your prescious coins while the one who owned the address you send by mistake is now jumping in joy because they got bitcoins without hardship. Because   i think every addresses has only little differences like one letter or number. But if ever your mistype an address without owner then it is valid,your bitcoins is in the air,no one accept it and you can't also recover it. Be carefull while typing an address always double or tripple check before you send your coins.

The mistake of bitcoin address submission is very dangerous because you can lose bitcoin if the wrong address that you type earlier in the person of course your bitcoin will disappear moved in address you type earlier, if that address you type earlier no one has of course your bitcoin is still safe and bitcoin can not be sent, my advice is careful and meticulous in charging bitcoin address if you want to send better to peruse.

Obviously we have to be careful when putting our wallet address, so no mistake in sending bitcoin, and make sure back when clicking confirmation email, to match the address of our wallet and ensure the correctness, when sending bitcoin ...