Hackers Target X Accounts of Crypto Firms to Promote Scam Tokens

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Several account hijackings on X over the weekend have raised alarm in the crypto community.

The events centered around unauthorized access to the authentic information of Litecoin, Foresight Ventures, and Holoworld AI, which were then manipulated to advertise fake cryptocurrencies and phishing sites, potentially endangering users by exposing them to possible scams.

The Incidents

On January 11, Litecoin confirmed that bad actors had accessed its official X account, saying:

Today, someone managed to gain unauthorized access to the Litecoin’s X account, resulting in some unapproved posts being shared.

The individuals responsible spread information about fraudulent Litecoin tokens, which supposedly operate on the Solana blockchain. A statement found among this content reportedly said, “Litecoin has moved to Solana.” This information also provided a contract address and a connection to a deceptive token on Pump.fun.

Based on the latest information, the posts vanished almost instantly. Additionally, they acknowledged discovering a hacked account that was responsible for the intrusion, which has now been taken down. They expressed regret for any misunderstandings and informed users that they are currently conducting an investigation into the matter.

On Saturday, Foresight Ventures experienced a cyberattack. During this incident, the hackers exploited the company’s account to advertise a digital token called MingAI, which they presented as an AI-driven crypto assistant. To bolster their credibility, these malicious actors posted links to the token’s contract, a trading tracker, and a Telegram group associated with it.

Min Xue, a partner at the company, acknowledged the incident, telling followers on X:

I’m sorry to break this to you, but unfortunately, my security has been breached by hackers over the past 12 hours. It appears they gained access to Foresight Ventures’ account.

She warned users against interacting with any content or opening links during the security incident, and she assured them that steps were being taken to resolve the problem.

On January 10th, there was an attempt to deceive people by spreading false information about an airdrop for AVA tokens on the Holoworld AI profile, which is believed to have been carried out by fraudsters.

For AVA Distribution Event 1, the distribution in Q1 is determined by your existing assets and blockchain interactions. This post directs you to a site where you can view your allocation and collect your tokens.

According to a recent announcement, the company successfully reinstated its X profile following swift intervention and support from BrainchainLLC. Additionally, the team stated that multiple phishing links and tweets were continuously flagged and removed, as the hackers employed advanced strategies to maintain their control over the situation.

Additionally, Holoworld disclosed they had strengthened their security protocols across all their platforms after conducting a thorough security review to minimize the likelihood of similar occurrences in the future.

A Broader Issue

Lately, there’s been an increase in phishing attempts aimed at cryptocurrency users on social media, which seems to be connected with a series of hacking incidents.

According to Scam Sniffer, a company specializing in blockchain security, the number of phishing attacks hit record highs in 2024, resulting in around $494 million in financial losses and affecting over 330,000 crypto wallet accounts.

The company found that the majority of these occurrences were due to fraudulent accounts pretending to be real ones. These fake profiles tricked innocent users into visiting harmful sites by using misleading comments and personal messages.

Furthermore, as earlier reported by investigator ZachXBT, a lone hacker successfully infiltrated over 15 X accounts from November to December of the previous year, making off with over half a million dollars worth of assets.

In response to the rising threat, Binance revealed that in 2024 they successfully protected approximately $129 million from falling victim to scams by utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning. The digital currency exchange explained that they flagged and blocked around 47,000 suspicious accounts, sent out 15,000 daily warnings, and made over 30,000 phone calls to alert users of potential danger.

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2025-01-13 23:16