Animoca Brands co-founder's x account hacked in $500k crypto phishing scam
The X account of Yat Siu, co-founder of metaverse-focused venture capital firm Animoca Brands, was hacked and exploited to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme.
The scam, which advertised a fake token named MOCA on the Solana blockchain, is part of a broader phishing campaign targeting high-profile figures in the crypto industry. According to investigators, the campaign has netted attackers approximately $500,000 to date.
The fraudulent MOCA token mimicked the legitimate Moca Coin associated with Mocaverse, a decentralized identity and network management system tied to Animoca Brands. Crypto investigator ZachXBT suggested that the attack likely originated from a phishing email posing as an official message from X about copyright infringement—a tactic increasingly used in similar scams.
Animoca Brands quickly addressed the breach on its official X account, reassuring users that neither the company nor its related projects, including the MOCA Foundation and Moca Network, were introducing new tokens or NFTs. Mocaverse further emphasized that its systems and official accounts remained secure.
Broader implications and patterns
While Yat Siu’s account has been recovered and verified by X, the wallet linked to the perpetrators still holds $67,000 in USDC stablecoin. It is unclear whether this amount represents the direct proceeds of the scam. Further investigation by ZachXBT uncovered the scammer’s involvement in launching multiple NFT collections and memecoins via the platform Pump.fun in recent weeks.
The attack highlights a concerning trend of social media hacks targeting accounts with extensive followings to promote fraudulent Solana-based projects. Similar incidents include the August compromise of McDonald’s Instagram account, which was used to advertise the GRIMACE token. That scam saw the token’s market cap briefly spike to $20 million before crashing below $1 million.
As the crypto industry continues to grapple with phishing and social engineering attacks, companies and individuals are urged to adopt stronger security measures, such as two-factor authentication and heightened vigilance against suspicious communications. These steps are essential to maintaining trust and security in an increasingly interconnected digital ecosystem.
Read also: Robert Kiyosaki portfolio shows profit
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