Hackers target X accounts of crypto companies to promote scam tokens

Several hijackings of X accounts over the weekend have raised the alarm in the crypto community.

The incidents involved the official accounts of Litecoin, Foresight Ventures and Holoworld AI being compromised to promote fraudulent cryptocurrencies and phishing links, exposing users to potential scams.

The Incidents

On January 11, Litecoin confirmed that its official X account had been accessed by bad actors, saying:

“Litecoin X account was briefly compromised today and posts were published that were not authorized.”

The attackers shared content promoting fake Litecoin tokens linked to the Solana blockchain. One reportedly read: “LTC is now in Solana.” It also included a contract address and a link to a scam testimonial on Pump.fun.

According to the update, the posts were deleted within seconds. The team also said it had identified a compromised delegate account as the source of the breach, which has since been removed. It also apologized for any confusion caused, and notified users that investigations into the incident are ongoing.

Foresight Ventures also came under attack on Saturday. In that incident, hackers used the company’s account to promote a token called MingAI, which was described as a cryptography assistant with artificial intelligence. To build credibility, the bad actors also shared links to the token’s contract, a trade tracker, and a Telegram group.

Min Xue, a partner in the company, acknowledged the incident and told X’s followers:

“We regret to inform you that the Foresight Ventures account has been compromised by hackers in the last 12 hours.”

It advised users not to interact with any posts or click on shared links during the breach and assured them that the issue was being fixed.

Holoworld AI was another target. On January 10th, the alleged scammers posted misleading information about an AVA token launch on their profile.

“AVA Distribution Event 1, The Q1 Distribution is based on your current holdings and on-chain activity,” the fake post read. It also directed users to a portal to check allocations and claim tokens.

In an update, the company announced that its X profile had been fully restored after quick action and assistance from BrainchainLLC. The team also reported that phishing links and tweets were repeatedly flagged and deleted, and the attackers used sophisticated tactics to maintain control.

Holoworld also revealed that it had implemented enhanced security measures across all platforms following a security audit to prevent future incidents.

A broader topic

The recent string of hacks is part of a wider increase in phishing attacks targeting crypto users of the social media platform.

Research by Scam Sniffer, a blockchain security company, indicates that phishing attacks reached unprecedented levels in 2024, causing approximately $494 million in losses and compromising more than 330,000 cryptocurrency addresses.

The company attributed most of these incidents to impersonation accounts, which lured unsuspecting users to malicious websites through misleading comments and private messages.

Additionally, chain researcher ZachXBT previously reported that between November and December of last year, a single hacker breached more than 15 X accounts, stealing more than $500,000.

However, to combat the growing threat, Binance recently announced that it had prevented more than $129 million from being lost to scams by 2024 using artificial intelligence and machine learning. The crypto exchange said it identified and blacklisted 47,000 malicious addresses, issued 15,000 daily alerts and made more than 30,000 phone calls warning users of potential harm.

SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored) Binance Free $600 (Exclusive to CryptoPotato): Use this link to register a new account and receive an exclusive welcome offer of $600 to Binance (full details).

LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers on Bybit – Use this link to register and open a FREE $500 position with any currency!