Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, appears to have fallen prey to a Twitter hacker who managed to siphon off $690,000 from unsuspecting users enticed by a corrupted link posted on his feed.
The breach was initially observed on Saturday when a post surfaced on Buterin’s Twitter account, ostensibly announcing the launch of commemorative Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) by Consensys, a software provider. This malicious link, potentially visible to his 4.9 million followers, led victims to connect their wallets for NFT minting, but, in reality, it created an opportunity for the hacker to abscond with their assets.
Who announced about the hack?
The news about the hack was shared by Dmitry Buterin, Vitalik’s father, on September 9 through a post on Vitalik’s Twitter account. The post, which has since been deleted, falsely celebrated the arrival of “Proto-Danksharding” on Ethereum.
Details about the theft
The theft resulted in the Loss of various NFTs, including two CryptoPunks (#3983 and #1751), alongside others like Milady 4755, Meebit #9965, and Meridian #918.
According to on-chain analyst ZachXBT, the stolen assets’ estimated value amounted to approximately $691,000.
Concerns about the platform’s security
This incident has raised concerns about the growing prevalence of phishing scams on the Twitter platform, which has witnessed a worrying surge this year.
Prominent figures in the crypto industry, like ZachXBT and Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao, have expressed increased concern about the growth of these cybercrimes. They note malicious actors often employ verified bots and strategically target influential accounts to disseminate their deceptive links.
