MicroStrategy, the leading business intelligence company and the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, became the victim of a cyberattack on its official Twitter account on Friday. The hackers posted a fraudulent message announcing a fake Ethereum token called $MSTR and lured unsuspecting users to claim their free tokens by sending ETH to a phishing address. According to crypto analyst ZachXBT, the scam has already caused a loss of $440,000 to the users who fell for it.

How the scam unfolded

The hackers gained access to MicroStrategy’s Twitter account, which has over 1.2 million followers, around 10:30 AM EST on Friday. They changed the profile picture and name of the account to “MicroStrategy (X)” and posted a series of tweets promoting the fake $MSTR token. The tweets claimed that the token was MicroStrategy’s official Ethereum token, backed by its Bitcoin holdings, and offered low gas fees and seamless transactions. The tweets also urged users to claim their free $MSTR tokens by sending ETH to a phishing address, claiming that half of the supply had already been claimed.

The scam was quickly spotted by many users, who reported the hacked account and warned others not to fall for it. However, some users were deceived by the convincing appearance of the tweets, which used MicroStrategy’s logo and name, and the promise of free tokens. According to ZachXBT, who tracked the phishing address on Etherscan, the scammers received over 1,000 ETH, worth about $440,000, from more than 300 transactions.

0xe7645b8672b28a17dd0d650a5bf89539c9aa28da

~$440K stolen from the compromise so far

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 26, 2024

How to avoid such scams

This is not the first time that scammers have used deepfake technology and social media platforms to impersonate crypto personalities and companies and steal funds from unsuspecting users. In January, MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor warned about the rise of AI-generated YouTube videos that promoted similar Bitcoin giveaway scams using his name and image. He advised users to verify any information before trusting it and to avoid sending crypto to unknown addresses.

To avoid falling victim to such scams, users should always exercise caution and common sense when dealing with online offers that seem too good to be true. Users should also check the official sources and websites of the crypto projects and personalities they follow, and look for signs of verification and authenticity, such as the blue checkmark on Twitter. Users should also report any suspicious or fraudulent activity to the relevant authorities and platforms, and help spread awareness among the crypto community.

Source: https://azcoinnews.com/microstrategys-twitter-hacked-scammers-steal-440000-in-fake-airdrop.html