VeChain Official X Account Suffers Exploit

The X account of leading blockchain-based protocol VeChain has suffered a hack, with the exploiters leveraging the account to promote a scam giveaway.

The official X account of the VeChain protocol was hacked by malicious actors a few minutes ago today, Jan. 18, and used to promote a scam giveaway promising double of whatever investors send to the provided “contribution address.”

Content of the VeChain Scam

The hackers posted a tweet from the compromised account, claiming to offer generous rewards for VeChain (VET) and Ethereum (ETH) holders.

The post asked users to send a certain amount of VET or ETH to a specified address, promising to send back double the amount. They promised to send back 2 ETH for any 1 ETH sent, claiming to have up to 800 ETH for the scam event.

The post also stressed that investors would need to send between 100,000 VET to 5,000,000 VET to qualify for the giveaway, claiming that those who send 100,000 VET will receive 200,000 VET while those who send 5,000,000 VET will be awarded 10,000,000 VET. 

The crypto community quickly identified the scam, raising alarm that the project’s X account has suffered an exploit.

This pattern is an age-old scam scheme, where malicious actors convince market participants to send tokens to a particular address and receive a multiplied figure of what they’ve sent.

– Advertisement –

However, amid growing enlightenment, investors have become more aware of these schemes. Data from Etherscan confirms that the supposed “contribution address” presented by the scammers has not received any assets as of press time.

Notably, VeChain has recovered the account, a swift action that helped in preventing any financial damage to investors. The team has deleted the post as of press time. Nonetheless, they have not issued any statements on the incident.

A Trend of Hacks and Scams

The VeChain hack is the latest in a series of cyber attacks that have plagued the crypto space in recent months.

In November 2023, the XRP community called attention to a deep fake video ad on YouTube, which used the likeness of the Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse to announce a scam giveaway.

In addition, the scourge of cloned and hacked X handles has grown in recent times. Last July, some malicious actors cloned the X handle of  Ripple CTO David Schwartz to promote a scam 100 million XRP giveaway. 

In May 2023, the account of Shiba Inu lead developer Shytoshi Kusama was cloned to announce another scam. Pro-crypto attorneys Jeremy Hogan and John E. Deaton also suffered an exploit on their respective X accounts from last June to July. 

These incidents highlight the need for extra caution when it comes to financial dealings. Experts advise users to do their own research, verify the authenticity of the sources, and use reputable platforms and wallets to protect their funds.