Scammers Used Twitter’s Crypto Community to Steal Information

Scammers are hijacking Twitter accounts to promote questionable cryptocurrency platforms that let them compromise their victim’s information.

That’s according to Bloomberg News, which reported Thursday (May 26) that the scammers have been impersonating reporters, crypto apps and a number of nonfungible token (NFT) projects since March on Twitter to steal users’ virtual currency, usernames and passwords.

Satnam Narang, a staff research engineer at the cybersecurity firm Tenable Inc, said many of the accounts in question are verified, which shows the scammers either hacked specific pages, purchased access illegally, or a combination of the two.

The scam allegedly involved thieves purporting to be part of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collective, as well as the Okay Bears NFT community, which has upwards of 150,000 followers on Twitter, Narang said.

Learn more: Hackers Swipe Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs After Crashing Discord and Instagram Accounts

In one case, scammers pretended to be a legal affairs reporter from the Australian media outlet the Age, asking users to click a suspicious link to claim a small amount of Ethereum. The research also showed scammers apparently took over the Twitter page of a freelance gaming journalist and set up profiles that appear similar to real ones.

These bogus Twitter accounts have generally asked followers to visit certain links or download new apps, said Narang. The apps typically push users to turn over access to their mobile cryptocurrency wallets, letting attackers siphon away funds.

Last month saw hackers take over BAYC Instagram account and Discover server, sending followers a link to “mint” non-fungible tokens (NFTs). However, leaders of the project were able to swiftly move to make sure that didn’t happen.

Read more: Seth Green’s Kidnapped Bored Ape Shows NFTs’ Growing Commercialization

Bloomberg’s report comes on the heels of a high-profile NFT scam involving actor Seth Green, who had hoped to turn his Bored Ape NFT into a TV show, only to have a scammer steal the token and – possibly – its commercial rights.

Green’s plan had been to use the cartoon collectible as the star of his show “White Horse Tavern,” but it’s now not clear who owns the rights to the token: Green or the person who purchased it from the thief.