Cryptocurrency [loss] $170,000

Tweet thread by zachxbt

2023-05-25 [vendor] Steve Aoki Twitter compromise [chain] ethereum
Primary Source ↗
Financial Loss $170,000 (170,000 USD)
Blockchain(s) Ethereum

Incident Details

Twitter account compromises remain a lucrative way to scam crypto enthusiasts. Someone was able to compromise the Twitter account belonging to electronic musician and crypto enthusiast Steve Aoki, posting a fake link to his NFT project that drained unsuspecting traders’ wallets.The scam was helped along by ben.eth, a Twitter personality who retweeted one of the tweets by the compromised account in which Aoki appeared to endorse a token created by ben.eth. According to crypto sleuth zachxbt, multiple followers of ben.eth were impacted by his retweet, which zachxbt characterized as “quote tweet[ing] a phishing scam posted by the compromised @steveaoki account for clout”. Ben.eth ultimately promised to reimburse his fans who lost money thanks to his tweets.

Total loss estimated at $170,000.

Technical Details

Initial Attack Vector
On-chain theft (attributed by zachxbt)
Vendor / Product
Steve Aoki Twitter compromise

Timeline

  1. 2023-05-25 Breach occurred
  2. 2023-05-25 Publicly disclosed