Scammers utilized the Aptos Foundation’s @Aptos_Network Twitter account as a means of spreading their fake campaign.
The ruse involved a fake APT token airdrop and targeted anyone who opened the link without thinking. On July 6, Aptos Labs tweeted that they are working with Aptos Foundation to take back control of the hijacked account and keep the public updated on any changes. The network is safe, thus the Aptos blockchain is still functioning at its best.
Web3 projects’ and influencers’ social media handles have recently become popular targets for criminals. There have been other instances of this obscene incidence just this year.
Azuki, a well-known non-fungible token (NFT) project, had its Twitter account compromised in January, allowing thieves to escape with more than $750,000 worth of NFTs and cryptocurrency.
Dante Disparte, the chief strategy officer and director of global policy, had his Twitter account stolen in March, and bogus freebies were advertised to devoted USDC customers.
More recently, in April, rumors surfaced that KuCoin users had lost over $22k to scammers who used the exchange’s compromised official Twitter handle to organize a scheme.
According to trackers, APT has a market capitalization of $1,507,416,580 and a 24-hour trading volume of $84,196,675. According to a report from Blockchain investigator ZachXBT from June, hackers stole roughly $1 million worth of cryptocurrencies after hacking eight well-known cryptocurrency figures’ Twitter accounts and using them to spread phishing scams.
