The X account of Animoca Brands’ co-founder and executive chairman, Yat Siu, has reportedly been hacked to promote a fake token named ANIMOCA.
Animoca Brands’ official X account confirmed the incident and urged investors to cease interacting with Yat Siu’s account.
Fake ANIMOCA Token Spikes 500% in Just 5 Minutes
According to an initial investigation by Kenta, the hacker successfully compromised Yat Siu’s official X account and posted about Animoca Brands launching a primary token under its name. It appears the hacker created this token earlier on the pump.fun platform.
The price of the fake ANIMOCA token surged by 500% within just five minutes. However, the price dropped back after the hacker deleted the post.
Price Fluctuations of The Fake ANIMOCA Token. Source: pump.fun
Additionally, Yat Siu used a secondary account to announce and confirm the incident. He stated that the attacker bypassed two-factor authentication (2FA) security and that he had reported the issue to X’s support team. Yat Siu also mentioned he would share insights and highlight X’s security vulnerabilities in light of this incident.
“Unfortunately Yat Siu’s social media account has been compromised. There is no official token or NFT launch from Animoca Brands. The token launch on Solana as claimed in a post was made by the hacker. Please DO NOT engage with the account and stay vigilant,” Animoca Brands stated.
Animoca Brands is one of the most active Web3 investors, with a portfolio of over 540 investments, including Yuga Labs, Axie Infinity, Polygon, ConsenSys, Magic Eden, OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Yield Guild Games, and more.
Additionally, in December, scammers stole $100,000 using a fake CLAUDE token after hacking Anthropic’s X account. They also hacked Drake’s X account to promote a fake meme coin named Anita.
The Key Attack Vector of Crypto Hacks from 2022 to 2024. Source: Cyvers
According to Cyvers’ annual report, access control vulnerabilities remain the primary cause of losses in the cryptocurrency space. Cyvers’ data shows these vulnerabilities accounted for over $1.9 billion in damages in 2024.
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