Crypto Scammers Pose as Journalists, NFT Apps on Twitter

Cybercriminals tricked Twitter users by pretending to be crypto journalists and crypto applications to share suspicious links and NFT projects. Crypto scammers then, would be able to identify and compromise victims’ sensitive data including their login credentials and virtual currencies.

The incident started in March when scammers have been encouraging followers to visit specific links or even download new apps, which resulted in users compromising the security of their crypto wallets, from which the scammers can quickly steal funds.

Internet scammers are also using hijacked accounts on Twitter to promote dubious cryptocurrency platforms that allow them to obtain confidential data from victims, according to Bloomberg News.

Satnam Narang, a staff researcher engineer at the cybersecurity firm Tenable Inc., found that the fraudsters’ pages, whether apps or phishing links, are designed to look like legitimate, trusted websites. They pretended to be members of Bored Ape Yacht Club, a popular collection of NFTs, and Okay Bears NFT community which has more than 150,000 Twitter followers.

Another report was identified when the attackers were able to take over the Twitter account of a freelance journalist who covers the gaming industry, as well as a legal affairs reporter from an Australian-based news service The Age, asking followers to visit a dubious link to claim some amount of Ether coin.

Although the scams cause significant damage, this activity is just one example of attackers taking advantage of the hype about popular projects to generate wealth with cryptocurrency.

As a matter of fact, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, more than $1.6 billion was reported in cryptocurrency-related fraud, a massive increase from the $246 million cases in 2021.

This follows the recent story of the actor and producer Seth Green, where he clicked a malicious link that provided hackers access to his wallet and took his 4 NFTs.