Hacker Drains Over $600k From Ethereum Founder’s X Account
- Ethereum founder Vialik Buterin’s Twitter account was hacked on Saturday.
- Multiple sources claim that the attack wiped off more than $690k from victims.
- Some victims believe Vitalik’s lack of security led to the situation.
The X (Twitter) account of Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin was recently compromised by criminals sending out fraudulent links. The scam took the shape of a post promoting free digital collectibles and is said to have cost people who fell for it more than $690,000.
Vitalik’s father, Dmitry Buterin, took to Twitter on Saturday to warn followers about the fake tweet, which has since been deleted. Dmitry wrote that “apparently Vitalik has been hacked, and he assured users that Vitalik was working towards resolving the situation.
Interestingly, one of the victims of the scam was Ethereum developer Bok Khoo, who tweeted that he lost “a few Punks,” urging followers to ignore the post. The scam tweet encouraged victims to click a link and connect their wallets to get the collectible.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT revealed that CryptoPunk #3983, valued at 153.62 ETH, or roughly $250,543, is the most valuable NFT stolen. Interestingly, one Twitter user claimed Vitalik’s carelessness led to this attack and called for the Ethereum founder to compensate victims.
The user urged Vitalik to “take accountability for his poor op-sec and compensate those affected.” According to this user:
The only way this isn’t negligence on Vitalik’s part is if someone at X internally compromised the account or if he was coerced in person by a criminal who threatened violence. I highly doubt that’s what happened. Most likely, this was a SIM swap.
However, ZachXBT countered this user, explaining that Vitalik’s status within the crypto world made him a possible target for high-profile attacks. ZachXBT added that “you do not know yet whether it was a SIM swap. Vitalik is a big enough target to where an insider could have been paid off or panel was used.”
It’s important to note that the fraudulent tweets were taken down from Vitalik’s account thanks to the wide awareness created by different users. Reports state that Vitalik’s account is in safe hands once again.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
