Hayden Adams, the founder of the Uniswap decentralised exchange, lost his Twitter handle access for a while, courtesy of unidentified crypto scammer(s). Once hackers managed to breach Adams’ account, malicious links aiming to lure unsuspecting individuals to click on it, were tweeted out. Soon after, however, alerts about Adams’ account being hacked began emerging on social media, alerting people against engaging with the phishing links. Scammers wish to take advantage of the hefty following of crypto influencers to try and target as many investors as possible.
Notorious cyber actors who targeted Adams’ account, tweeted that Uniswap’s Permit2 contract was anonymously exploited, bringing users’ tokens at risk. The scammers were trying to get Uniswap users to click on an infected link to “save their funds.”
Soon after this now-deleted tweet was posted, community members began alerting others that this tweet could be a hoax.
Their concerns and fears were confirmed after the official handle of Uniswap Labs said that its CEO’s Twitter was indeed compromised. The tweet also clarified that the Uniswap protocol was safe from scammers.
In control of my twitter again :saluting_face:
Appreciate everyone who helped out tonight, and the effort people put in to help with takedowns, warnings, etc
Will follow up with updates when ready https://t.co/t6WCAWOYlP
— hayden.eth :unicorn_face: (@haydenzadams) July 21, 2023
It remains unclear how many individuals did actually engage with the scam post.
Later, Adams posted that he had received the control to his Twitter handle again, thanking community members for being vigilant.
In control of my twitter again :saluting_face:
Appreciate everyone who helped out tonight, and the effort people put in to help with takedowns, warnings, etc
Will follow up with updates when ready https://t.co/t6WCAWOYlP
— hayden.eth :unicorn_face: (@haydenzadams) July 21, 2023
In the last couple of years, Twitter has emerged as a breeding ground for crypto scammers.
Earlier last month, the Twitter account of OpenAI CTO Mira Murati was reportedly hacked by crypto scammers, who promoted a fake crypto airdrop via this verified account.
Prior to that, hackers managed to gain control over KuCoin’s Twitter handle for about 45 minutes, fishing for unsuspecting victims. After gaining control over the exchange’s Twitter handle, the hackers posted a fake activity. KuCoin users who happened to engage with this post may have been affected by the losses.
Twitter accounts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), and the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) have also been breached previously by crypto scammers to hunt for victims.
