In the early hours of Friday, EigenLayer’s official X (previously Twitter) account was hacked and misused to promote a fraudulent airdrop, as confirmed by its development team, Eigen Labs.
The attackers took advantage of the account to disseminate false information regarding a fictitious reallocation of EIGEN tokens for Season 2 of EigenLayer’s airdrop. Their aim was to entice users to click on dubious links and submit claims under deceitful circumstances.
The Aftermath and Key Details
Following the security breach, Eigen Labs promptly informed users of the situation, advising them to refrain from interacting with the compromised posts or the fraudulent links.
The developers stressed the importance of verifying communications and ensuring users engage only with the official EigenLayer website, “eigenlayer.xyz”.
The @eigenlayer account has been hacked. Please do not click on any suspicious links and check to confirm you are at ‘https://t.co/tg4hzOLtP5‘.
We’ll provide updates once we secure the account.
— Eigen Labs (@eigen_labs) October 18, 2024
The fraudulent posts from EigenLayer’s X account followed a clear pattern, starting with promotions about a fake EIGEN token reallocation for Season 2 participants.
This opening message included a harmful link designed to deceive users into participating in the scam. Shortly after, hackers posted another message urging them to make a claim, followed by a “final call” post to create a sense of urgency.
These communications closely replicated a legitimate announcement about EigenLayer’s actual Season 2 stakedrop, which concluded its claim period in September.
Damage Control
Scam Sniffer, a platform dedicated to tracking crypto scams, quickly identified the fraudulent posts, confirming they contained malicious links.
EigenLayer’s X account was compromised with phishing tweets posted. pic.twitter.com/lInHpMIEIM
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) October 18, 2024
They cautioned users to stay alert and avoid interfering with the deceptive posts. Meanwhile, blockchain investigator ZachXBT posted a warning on his Telegram channel.
ZachXBT notified his followers that the EigenLayer X account had been compromised, urging them against clicking links shared during the hacking incident.
This scam targeting EigenLayer follows a typical strategy frequently used by hackers to ensnare unsuspecting investors.
In a related event, the FBI recently apprehended the individual responsible for hacking the US SEC’s X account in January, which resulted in a false announcement suggesting the SEC had approved the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds—a statement that had yet to be officially disclosed by the SEC.
Illustration created using DALL-E, Chart from TradingView
