Discord and Twitter hacks result in crypto losses of $6m

Twelve major incidents security incidents occurred this week, leading to crypto losses of roughly $6.4 million.

According to web3 security firm CertiK, these losses were due to crypto hacks and phishing attacks through Discord and X (formerly known as Twitter). Social media has been recently flooded with fake airdrop messages from scammers.

#CertiKSkynetAlert 🚨

Since last Friday we recorded 12 incidents resulting in ~$6.4M in losses.

So far 5 Discord Hacks, 1 Phishing attack and 1 Twitter Hack.

Stay vigilant & #DYOR! pic.twitter.com/KE9F7R7JjP

— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) September 22, 2023

Several users have tweeted that popular Discord channels and bots have been hacked recently to spam members with token airdrop texts. In reality, these texts include phishing links, taking users to a malicious domain and draining their wallets in seconds. The airdrop scams have become significantly popular, and some threat actors are even using deepfakes or AI-generated videos to make these scams more convincing.

I got a DM on Discord for hiring, it all kind of looks real but I quickly found out it was a scam and logged him out of my discord before he took over, Yall be careful; some jobs might be real tho but most of them are just in your dm to hack you.#WEB3 #nft #crypto #hiring pic.twitter.com/yl6D0MPhcl

— INVESTORADESAM (AEDDON.COM)💚🌙| Full Force (@INVESTORADESAM0) September 15, 2023

Last week, TikTok was flooded with fake ‘Elon Musk’ Bitcoin scams. The scammers included a deepfake video of Musk doing an interview with Fox News, with the Tesla chief allegedly claiming to give away Bitcoin. However, like most other airdrop and giveaway scams, these were also redirecting users to phishing sites.

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Certik also reported that phishing campaigns have become much more rampant and frequent this year. Their data shows that monthly losses from phishing attacks have reached 136.8 million by August, which is already double the figure of 2022.

Why do we talk about phishing attacks so much?

Well, the numbers speak for themselves 👇

Get informed, stay safe. pic.twitter.com/ijeBFg45WX

— CertiK (@CertiK) September 21, 2023

A large number of these phishing campaigns are targeted at crypto holders and traders, driving the urgency for users to be more cautious with their digital assets.

Read more: ByBit to pause operations in the UK following new crypto rules

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