According to a report by Cointelegraph, hackers compromised the official Twitter account of cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io, causing over a million users to fear for the safety of their cash due to a still-active fraudulent Tether giveaway.
Cointelegraph claims that Twitter is the best way to communicate with the crypto community. Therefore, there has been a rise in the practice of hacking the verified Twitter accounts of celebrities to promote scams. Unknown hackers took control of the Gate.io Twitter account and redirected traffic to a fake version of the exchange’s website, gate.com.
Gate.io’s Twitter Hacked
According to Cointelegraph, the fraudulent website is actively promoting a false giveaway of 500,000 USDT and demanding visitors to verify the connectivity of their wallets (such MetaMask) to receive their prizes. Once a user connects their wallet to the bogus website, the hackers would be able to access their existing cash and drain the assets.
Peckshield, a blockchain investigation organization, has corroborated the ongoing attack by discovering the phishing website and alerting users to the potential loss of private keys. Investors have been urged to double-check the website URLs of trading platforms to ensure the integrity of deals, as Cointelegraph reported that this is the time of year when cryptocurrency frauds are projected to hit record highs.
Many victims have reported being instructed to make wire transfers to foreign accounts or buy substantial quantities of prepaid cards. The use of virtual currencies and automated teller-machine exchanges is also on the rise. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that “individual losses associated with these scams varied from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.”
