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Unsuspecting victims lost nearly $700K in crypto assets after clicking a malicious link shared by hackers on Vitalik Buterin’s X handle.
The official X account of Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin was hacked over the weekend. Notably, the malefactors behind the attack used Buterin’s X account to post a malicious tweet in the early hours of yesterday.
Attackers Steal $691K Crypto
In the post, the attackers announced the launch of a non-fungible token (NFT) to celebrate the arrival of “Proto-Danksharding” on Ethereum. The hackers claimed that the Proto NFT would be used to celebrate devs who made the upgrade possible.
Reacting to the development, Buterin’s father, Dmitry Buterin, urged X users to disregard the post as his son’s account has been compromised.
Disregard this post, apparently Vitalik has been hacked. He is working on restoring access. https://t.co/2fjM0GhvIa
— dima.eth (@BlockGeekDima) September 9, 2023
Although the post he referred to was deleted, his warning came after unsuspecting victims suffered huge losses.
According to reports, victims lost a combined $691K worth of crypto assets after clicking the phishing link attached to the tweet.
Ethereum Dev Loses 2 CryptoPunk NFTs
In a recent tweet, Colin Wu, a prominent Chinese reporter, revealed that the miscreants behind the attack may be affiliated with the Pink Drainer hacker group. Wu Blockchain reiterated that the attackers stole $691K worth of crypto from the incident.
Vitalik’s Twitter hacking may be linked to PinkDrainer. The scammer’s wallet address is: 0x4e…b3f3, and the total loss exceeds $691k worth of assets. The two largest funds were two CryptoPunks NFTs originally belonging to bokkypoobah.eth. https://t.co/RiGkyEOtL7
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 10, 2023
It added that the two largest funds stolen in the heist were two CryptoPunk NFTs belonging to Ethereum developer Bok Khoo.
Meanwhile, Khoo took to X to confirm that he lost the NFTs after interacting with the phishing links.
WARNING! I JUST LOST A FEW PUNKS!
DON'T INTERACT! pic.twitter.com/lS4VvlHdVa
— luckytimes.eth beautifuldaytobealive.eth (@BokkyPooBah) September 9, 2023
It is worth noting that the current floor price of a CryptoPunk NFT is 46.5 ETH, equivalent to around $73,330.
Binance CEO Reacts
Interestingly, Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) joined crypto community members to react to the development.
CZ warned crypto enthusiasts to always “use common sense” when reading content on social media platforms. He asserted that the security on the X platform is not as sophisticated as fintech platforms.
“It needs quite a bit more features: 2FA, login ID should be different from handle or email,“ he added.
Furthermore, he shared how his X account was locked following a series of attempts by malefactors to “brute-force” it.
Vitalik's Twitter account got hacked. Use common sense when reading content on social media, even from large KOLs.
Twitter's account security is not designed as financial platforms. It needs quite a bit more features: 2FA, login id should be different from handle or email, etc.… pic.twitter.com/oYQch8r2H0
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) September 10, 2023
At press time, Buterin has regained access to his X account, as the malicious tweet has been taken down.