Animoca Brands, a major player in the blockchain gaming industry, has confirmed that its co-founder and chair, Yat Siu, fell victim to a social media hack on X (formerly Twitter). The breach resulted in Siu’s account being used to promote a fraudulent token called Animoca Brands (MOCA), launched on the Solana blockchain through the memecoin platform Pump.fun.

Animoca Brands Warns Against Fake Token

On December 26, Animoca Brands posted an official warning to its X followers, stating, “Unfortunately [Siu’s] social media account has been compromised. The token launch on Solana as claimed in a post was made by the hacker.” The firm quickly clarified that neither Siu nor Animoca Brands had any involvement in the token’s creation or promotion.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT identified the attack as part of a broader phishing campaign targeting crypto-focused accounts on X. According to ZachXBT, the hacker likely used a phishing email masquerading as a copyright infringement notice from the X team. The email tricked victims into resetting their account passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA) credentials on a phishing site controlled by the attacker.

Phishing Scheme Behind the Breach

This phishing campaign has compromised at least 15 crypto-related X accounts since late November. The attacker deployed a fake MOCA token linked to Siu’s hacked account, which briefly spiked to a market cap of $36,700 before crashing to $6,200, as reported by analytics platform Birdeye. The token’s value plummeted almost immediately after the fraudulent post, leaving the market with minimal trading activity.

The hacker’s address, responsible for deploying the MOCA token, matches those used in similar attacks over the past month, which have collectively netted the attacker approximately $500,000.

Security Concerns

The breach of Yat Siu’s account follows a series of similar incidents, including attacks on the accounts of RuneMine, a Bitcoin infrastructure provider. Earlier this month, popular rapper Drake also faced a similar hack, when his attacked account started promoting a Solana-based memecoin ANITA.

The attack on Siu notes the growing threat of social engineering tactics used by cybercriminals to exploit high-profile individuals in the crypto space.

Animoca Brands has advised its followers to exercise caution and disregard any token launches promoted through compromised accounts.

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