Micro Strategy X Account Hacked, Shilling Ethereum Phishing Scam
Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy X's account was hacked and posted malicious links to a fake airdrop claiming to be an “official” Ethereum-based MSTR token.
A user who clicks on the link will be directed to the MicroStrategy website where they will be directed to connect a wallet and request a fake $MSTR airdrop. It is understood that once users receive a series of tokens in their Web3 wallet, the attackers can automatically withdraw the tokens from the user's wallet.
According to independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT and anti-fraud platform Scam Sniffer, the losses incurred through fraud have topped $440,000.
0xe7645b8672b28a17dd0d650a5bf89539c9aa28da
~$440,000 was stolen from the agreement
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 26, 2024
Scam Sniffer One user alone lost over $420,000 to a phishing scam at 12:43 am UTC, just minutes after the first malicious link was posted on X's MicroStrategy account.
Someone lost $wBAI, $wPOKT and $CHEX worth $424,786 to phishing scams 5 minutes ago. pic.twitter.com/GEJvHEXuM7
– Fraud Fraudster | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) February 26, 2024
An anonymous user lost a total of $424,786 worth of altcoins, with one transfer to the MicroStrategy attacker and two to a second wallet directly linked to the notorious hacking group PinkDrainer.
Related: ZachXBT recovers most of stolen $177K NFT proceeds after 9-month investigation
An unidentified victim signed a transaction totaling $134,000 wBAI, $122,000 CHEX, and $45,000 worth of wPOKT sent to the attacker's wallet address.
As of publication, the microstrategy attacker's wallet address on Ethereum DeBank holds a total of $329,000 worth of Ethereum-based tokens.
Crypto industry experts were quick to point out the less obvious nature of the scam, with eponymous British crypto investor Coby suggesting that MicroStrategy, a firm focused solely on Bitcoin, probably won't launch a token on Ethereum.
“Obviously trying not to be a victim here, but you'd have to be very special to think that MicroStrategy is launching an ETH token after Saylor spent years saying ‘there is no second best' and ‘you only use one chair' etc.
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Update (February 26, 2:43 am UTC): This article has been updated to include more details about the microstrategy attacker.
