YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — The X account of Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, was hacked in a scheme to promote a fraudulent token. The breach is part of a series of attacks targeting crypto accounts in the past month, according to blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
Fake MOCA Token Promoted on Yat Siu’s X Account
On Dec. 26, Animoca Brands announced that Siu’s X account had been compromised. The company stated,
The hacker used Siu’s account to share a link to a fake token named Animoca Brands (MOCA), falsely linked to the company and its Mocaverse NFT collection. The token was launched on Solana’s memecoin platform, Pump.fun, but had no official connection to Animoca Brands.
Fake MOCA Token’s Value Peaks Briefly Before Crashing
The fraudulent token hit a peak market cap of $36,700 shortly after being promoted. Within seconds, its value dropped to $7,700, according to data from Birdeye. As of now, the token’s market cap is approximately $6,200, with trading activity largely disappearing.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT noted that the fake MOCA token was deployed by the same address behind other fraudulent tokens. These scams have collectively netted attackers $500,000 in the past month.
Phishing Attack Behind Yat Siu’s X Account Hack
ZachXBT explained that the hackers used social engineering tactics to gain access to Siu’s account. Impersonating X team members, the attackers sent fake copyright infringement notices to the victim. The notices directed Siu to a phishing website where his password and two-factor authentication (2FA) credentials were unknowingly shared with the attackers.
The phishing strategy has targeted at least 15 crypto-focused X accounts since Nov. 26. The first incident involved Bitcoin infrastructure provider RuneMine, and the latest attack before Siu’s hack was against crypto trading site Kick on Dec. 24.
