Discord Channels of Avalanche and ZKsync Compromised to Promote Scams

The Discord servers of the Avalanche blockchain and the ZKsync layer-two network have fallen victim to malicious attacks.

SECURITY ALERT: The official Avalanche Discord has been compromised.

Please do not interact with any accounts or click any links until further notice.

— Avalanche ? (@avax) August 25, 2024

On August 25, the Avalanche team reported the breach of their Discord.

“Please do not interact with any accounts or click on links until further notice,” the developers warned.

According to screenshots shared on social media, the perpetrators posted links to fake AVAX token distribution schemes in the channel.

Avax discord looking sus…disabled chat in all channels and an announcement about “claiming Avax from the foundation”

My advice?

…don’t click anything in that discord for a while… pic.twitter.com/x9MLy4vPeX

— Stog Chog? (@stogchog) August 25, 2024

Approximately an hour and a half after the initial report, the Avalanche team announced they had regained control over the Discord server.

UPDATE: The official Avalanche Discord has been resecured and will reopen when CMs deem appropriate. https://t.co/bMwSI87TAs

— Avalanche ? (@avax) August 25, 2024

“We identified the issue and resolved it. In the process, we had to remove suspicious channels and roles […]. We will work diligently to restore everything to normal. Thank you for your patience,” wrote community head Ben Well.

Just an hour after the attack on Avalanche, users reported a breach of the official ZKsync Discord channel.

Hackers posted malicious links to a “second round airdrop,” promising free ZK tokens.

ZKsync discord hacked pic.twitter.com/tRtHG8i5qk

— HammerToesKnows (@hammertoesknows) August 25, 2024

The incidents involving Avalanche and ZKsync channels occurred a day after the Discord server of the Polygon blockchain platform was compromised.

Chief Information Security Officer Mudit Gupta urged users not to click on the posted links “until further notice.”

PSA: Do not click on any links in the @0xPolygon community discord until further notice.

It has been compromised and we’re trying to get back ownership.

— Mudit Gupta (@Mudit__Gupta) August 24, 2024

“The channel is compromised, and we are trying to regain ownership,” he clarified.

One user reported losing $150,000 in Ethereum “through an official Polygon announcement in Discord.”

@0xPolygon I lost $150,000 of my Ethereum pool in one go through Polygon’s official Discord announcement. Why haven’t you officially posted the Discord hacking issue on X? How are you going to take responsibility for this?

— Mr.K (@ValidatorK) August 24, 2024

“Why haven’t you officially reported the hack on X? How are you going to take responsibility for this?” he asked the team.

In 2023, experts uncovered a phishing scheme involving the distribution of messages with malicious links via Discord.