Early Friday morning, the official X (formerly Twitter) account of EigenLayer, a prominent risk-staking protocol, compromised According to confirmation from developer Eigen Labs, it was used to facilitate fraudulent airdrops.
Hackers exploited this account to share misleading posts about the fake reallocation of EIGEN tokens in EigenLayer's Airdrop Season 2. This malicious campaign attempted to lure users into visiting suspicious links and submitting false claims.
Aftermath and details
After the hack, Eigen Labs immediately warned users about the breach and urged them not to visit posts or fraudulent links.
The developer emphasized the importance of verifying all communications and ensuring that users are accessing the legitimate EigenLayer domain “eigenlayer.xyz”.
of @eigenlayer The handle is damaged. Do not visit suspicious links and actively double-check and confirm that you are visiting “https://t.co/tg4hzOLtP5”.
Updates will be provided once security is ensured.
— Eigen Labs (@eigen_labs) October 18, 2024
The fake airdrop posts on EigenLayer's X account followed a specific pattern, starting with a message promoting the reallocation of fake EIGEN tokens to Season 2 stakeholders.
This initial post contained malicious links intended to trick users into participating in a fraudulent scheme. Shortly after, the hacker posted another message urging users to file a claim, and eventually shared a third “final contact” post to increase the urgency.
These posts were a close imitation of EigenLayer's legitimate announcement for the actual Season 2 stake drop, which was released in September and the billing period had already ended.
bust
Crypto fraud prevention platform Scam Sniffer quickly identified the fake promotion and confirmed that the post contained a harmful link.
🚨EigenLayer's X account was compromised and a phishing tweet was posted. pic.twitter.com/lInHpMIEIM
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) October 18, 2024
The platform warned users of the risks and advised them to avoid engaging with the posts. Meanwhile, blockchain researcher ZachXBT has already issued an early warning on his Telegram channel.
ZachXBT notified subscribers that EigenLayer's X account had been compromised. He warned against clicking on links shared from accounts during a breach.
Notably, the fraud case involving EigenLayer is not a new scheme. Hackers have frequently used this technique to lure investors into scams.
Recently, the FBI arrested the person behind the hacking of the US SEC's X account in January. The hack resulted in a false post claiming that the US SEC had approved the listing of a physical Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, a move that was not officially announced by the SEC.
Featured image created with DALL-E, TradingView chart
