Animoca Brands Chairman’s Social Media Account Compromised to Promote Fake Token

The social media account of Animoca Brands’ co-founder and executive chairman, Yat Siu, has reportedly been hacked to advertise a counterfeit token named ANIMOCA. In response, Animoca Brands’ official X account alerted followers and advised them to avoid engaging with Yat Siu’s compromised profile.

Fake ANIMOCA Token Sees Brief 500% Surge

An initial investigation by cybersecurity expert Kenta revealed that the attacker infiltrated Yat Siu’s X account and falsely announced the launch of a primary token by Animoca Brands. This fraudulent token, allegedly created on the pump.fun platform, experienced a 500% price surge within five minutes of the misleading announcement. However, the token’s value plummeted shortly after the hacker deleted the post.

Using a secondary account, Yat Siu confirmed the breach, explaining that the attacker bypassed two-factor authentication (2FA). He also reported the incident to X’s support team and pledged to share insights about the platform’s security vulnerabilities. Animoca Brands issued an official statement emphasizing that no legitimate token or NFT launch is underway, cautioning users to remain vigilant.

Ongoing Challenges with Crypto Security

As a prominent Web3 investor with over 540 projects under its portfolio, including Yuga Labs, Axie Infinity, and Polygon, Animoca Brands’ security incident highlights the persistent risks in the crypto space. According to Cyvers’ 2024 annual report, access control vulnerabilities have resulted in losses exceeding $1.9 billion. Similar incidents, such as the December 2024 hack of Anthropic’s X account to promote a fake CLAUDE token and Drake’s X account breach for a counterfeit meme coin, underline the urgent need for enhanced cybersecurity measures across the industry.

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