Arthur Madrid, co-founder and CEO of the metaverse project The Sandbox, was the victim of a hack on his Twitter account on May 26, according to a post from Madrid that was apparently made after recovering the account. Apparently, the attacker used the Madrid account to promote a fake phishing scam.
In the Madrid post, he warned Sandbox users: “never click on any link that promotes airdrops or URLs and looks like a SCAM – and not 100% using our own unique URL/domain name :
My Twitter was hacked today. and now is back. Please never click on any link that promotes Airdrop or URL and look SCAMMY – and not 100% using our proper and unique URL/domain name : https://t.co/X3rXN9z8z7
– Arthur Madrid (@arthurmadrid) May 26, 2023
Four hours before the publication of Madrid, The official Twitter account for The Sandbox also warned that a scammer had taken control of the account and was promoting “a scam/phishing link for a fake SAND token airdrop.”
The post included a screenshot of the alleged scam post, which advertised a SAND token airdrop and encouraged users to “check eligibility and claim on the site”, referring users to a website with a different URL than the official.
The Sandbox team stated that they were “working to take the site down and fix it as soon as possible.”
⚠️ Our CEO & Co-Founder Arthur Madrid’s Twitter account has been hacked ⚠️
The hacker is posting a scam / phishing link for a fake airdrop of SAND tokens.
⛔️Do NOT click on the link and instead report the post so it is blocked.
We’re working on getting the site down and fix… pic.twitter.com/sOqzAV5OUT
— The Sandbox (@TheSandboxGame) May 26, 2023
As of 8:26pm UTC, the alleged scam site appears to have been taken down, as it now produces a 404 error.
Phishing attacks have become a frequent problem in the crypto community. On May 19, a scam-as-a-service called “Inferno Drainer” was reportedly found to be operating on Telegram, recruiting website creators to create hundreds of these phishing scam sites. By the time it was discovered, it had already stolen nearly $6 million from users.
On April 15, the cybersecurity company Kaspersky reported that these types of attacks increased by 40% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
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