EigenLayer official X account hacked to promote fake airdrop claims
The official X (formerly known as Twitter) account of Ethereum protocol EigenLayer was hacked on Friday morning, developer Eigen Labs confirmed.
The @eigenlayer handle has been compromised. Please do not engage with any suspicious links and actively double check and verify you are engaging with 'https://t.co/tg4hzOLtP5'.
— Eigen Labs (@eigen_labs) October 18, 2024
An update will be provided once secured.
Eigen Labs posted on X that there has been a compromise of the @EigenLayer handle. Please actively double check and confirm that you are interacting with 'eigenlayer.xyz' and avoid clicking on any dubious links. Once secured, an update will be provided, Eigen Labs added.
EigenLayer hacker uses phishing links to promote fake Airdrop claims
Polygon Labs Chief Information Security Officer Mudit Gupta passed the information on X that users should avoid clicking on any links. There was no new airdrop, he said.
The blockchain expert ZachXBT had previously issued a warning on his Telegram channel: The EigenLayer X account is currently compromised. ZachXBT advises users not to click any links.
The first fraudulent post seemed to encourage a fake reallocation of EIGEN tokens for EigenLayer's stakeholder airdrop in Season 2. According to the crypto anti-scam website Scam Sniffer, it used a malicious link.
About ten minutes later, a second post persuaded users to submit a claim, and then a third "final call" post. The claim period has ended since the official Season 2 stakedrop announcement in September.
Increase in fake airdrop fraud
Since 2021, phishing schemes have caused billions of dollars in losses, according to Chainalysis, and social media sites like X and Telegram have become popular locations for these frauds.
The cryptocurrency industry is seeing an increase in fake airdrop scams. Users or participants in these scams are frequently asked to send a small amount of cryptocurrency to confirm their wallet address or to pay transaction fees to a malicious smart contract that has the potential to steal their funds. The promised tokens are never given to the users, and the scammers take the fund with them after the payment is made.
Over 200 major hacks have occurred in the crypto industry in the first half of 2024, resulting in losses of approximately $1.56 billion, of which only $319 million have been recovered.
Previous X account hacked
Recent months have seen numerous instances of social media accounts being compromised to spread cryptocurrency scams; these include the X accounts of McDonald's, Metallica, Doja Cat, and Hulk Hogan, among others. In addition, attackers promoted a fake MANA token airdrop on Decentraland's official X account, which was compromised last month.
Disclaimer
This information should not be considered financial advice by any means. Please do your own research before making any investment decisions. The views in the articles are personal opinions only. Whale Insider is not responsible for any financial losses incurred.