Hacker Steals Over $700K After Hijacking Vitalik’s X Account
Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin’s Twitter (X) Account Posted A Phishing Scam That Led To Many Users’ Wallets Being Drained Of Tokens and Valuable NFTs
By: Jeremy Nation • Loading...
Hacks![Picture of vitalik buterin](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F94564f150f94b4377c18a6b28bb567dd5d383e11-828x467.webp&w=828&q=75)
Earlier on Saturday, the social media account of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin was hijacked. A malicious actor used Buterin’s X handle to post a phishing link. Taken in by Buterin’s apparent endorsement, a number of users lost high-value NFTs.
![Screenshot of tweet showing phishing scam](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F68cab0aeae57deb129ec2397eda677cfbe21a7c5-634x342.jpg&w=828&q=100)
Victims were lured in with the prospect of minting a commemorative ConsenSys NFT, but found their wallets drained once they confirmed a transaction on the phishing site. The scammer’s wallet currently holds assets worth over $390,000, according to Etherscan, but at one point, as noted by crypto sleuth ZachXBT, the hacker had amassed at least $691,000 worth of stolen loot.
![Hacker's address balance](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F6920867e01b321bfa308ca371c33cd1fe3b820e0-653x227.jpg&w=828&q=100)
Among the hacker’s spoils was a piece of NFT history, the first Larva Labs Crypto Punk to be claimed by a member of the general public, according to X user quit.
![screenshot of tweet](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F10850cb8765789983fa1fcfe4a85bbe5155e5e5c-874x1282.jpg&w=828&q=100)
The current highest bid for a Crypto Punk on the NFT marketplace, Blur, is 45 ETH, or approximately $73,500.
The post has since been taken down, and Buterin is yet to post on X since the incident occurred. It remains unclear as to how the account was compromised.
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