On January 25, hackers took control of MicroStrategy’s X account and posted malicious links promoting a fake token giveaway of MSTR.
there was a second best after all
(hacked acc if not obvious lol) pic.twitter.com/cdLqbqiiCO
— Spreek (@spreekaway) February 26, 2024
Users who clicked the link were prompted to connect their wallets and request a fake airdrop, allowing hackers to gain control over the victims’ addresses.
According to on-chain investigator ZachXBT, the estimated losses amounted to around $440,000.
0xe7645b8672b28a17dd0d650a5bf89539c9aa28da
~$440K stolen from the compromise so far
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 26, 2024
Researchers from Scam Sniffer reported that one user lost over $420,000 in various altcoins.
someone lost $424,786 worth of $wBAI, $wPOKT, and $CHEX to phishing scams about 5 minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/GEJvHEXuM7
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) February 26, 2024
Some of the funds were sent to the hacker’s wallet associated with the compromised MicroStrategy account, while others were transferred to two addresses linked to the PinkDrainer group.
According to DeBank, the hacker holds $329,684 at the time of writing.
Some market participants pointed out the obvious nature of the scam. A British crypto investor known as Cobie noted that MicroStrategy, which focuses exclusively on Bitcoin, is unlikely to launch a token on Ethereum.
“Obviously, I’m trying not to blame the victims, but you have to be special to believe in a MicroStrategy token launch after [the firm’s founder] Michael Saylor spent years saying ‘there is no second best’ and ‘you only use one chair’,” he wrote.
Previously, the team behind the gaming Web3 project Notcoin reported a breach of their X account.
Back in January, a hacker gained control over the X account of Algorand Foundation CEO Staci Warden, not to post phishing links, but to criticize the project.