Polychain Capital, a prominent crypto venture capital firm, has recently confirmed a security breach affecting the X (formerly Twitter) account of its founder and CEO, Olaf Carlson-Wee.
The hacker behind the breach exploited Carlson-Wee’s account to promote phishing links disguised as a website, offering a fraudulent airdrop.
The breach was first detected on January 4, prompting Polychain to issue a public statement advising X users to refrain from engaging with Carlson-Wee’s account until further notice.
The hacker initiated the attack by posting a deceptive message on X at 8:20 pm UTC, promoting a fictitious “$PCHAIN” token airdrop.
The message encouraged followers to click a link to participate, claiming, “In celebration of the New Year, we have decided to start the $PCHAIN phase 1 distribution early!
What are you waiting for? Get your share before it’s too late!” It included a link purportedly related to Polychain.
Phishing scammers often employ such tactics to deceive users into initiating malicious transactions that can lead to the theft of cryptocurrency from their wallets.
The hacker persisted in their efforts, with approximately 41,000 X users having seen the initial fraudulent post at the time of writing.
READ MORE: Bitcoin ETF Approval in the U.S. Faces Uncertainty Amidst Skepticism and Delay Predictions
This incident adds to the growing list of cryptocurrency-related phishing scams, with a recent report by security platform Scam Sniffer revealing that such scams victimized 324,000 individuals and resulted in losses totaling nearly $300 million in 2023 alone.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that prominent figures in the crypto space have fallen victim to similar attacks.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had his X account compromised in September, where the hacker managed to siphon $691,000 from victims who clicked on a malicious link that falsely promised a free nonfungible token.
Moreover, other venture capital firms like Blockchain Capital and decentralized finance protocol Compound Finance also experienced similar security breaches in August and December.
These incidents involved luring users with promises of token claims.
Polychain Capital, headquartered in San Francisco, specializes in managing actively managed portfolios of various blockchain assets.
Established in 2016, the firm had amassed $2.6 billion in assets under management as of July 2023.
The breach of Olaf Carlson-Wee’s X account serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges posed by cyber threats in the cryptocurrency industry, emphasizing the need for robust security measures and vigilant user awareness.
Discover the Crypto Intelligence Blockchain Council
