PeckShield warns Decentraland followers of a phishing attack involving a fake MANA airdrop, urging users to avoid interacting with it.
On September 19, PeckShield, a blockchain security company, announced via an X post that the official Decentraland X account had been hacked.
According to reports, the attackers are tricking the social media followers of the virtual reality (VR) platform by spreading a phishing link that looks like an airdrop of MANA tokens.
After clicking the link, consumers are taken to a website where they are prompted to connect their wallets to claim the token airdrop. Shortly after, their funds are hacked.
PeckShield alert
According to the blockchain security firm, users are encouraged to refrain from clicking on the link or communicating with associated content to avoid interacting with the official Decentraland account.
PeckShield advises users to wait for additional updates from the VR platform’s social media accounts to verify that account security has been reinstated.
As evidenced by the several high-profile social media accounts that cryptocurrency scammers broke into on September 18, this social media breach technique is gaining traction.
Takeover of accounts by Decentraland
On September 19, at 01:50 am UTC, the scam announcements started, pinning the post and announcing the MANA airdrop allotment for the Decentraland community on X.
The lousy actor said that comments were disabled “due to malicious links” in an attempt to further the deceptively worded fraud. This comment was made on both the initial and subsequent announcements.
Around 10:00 pm UTC on September 18, the VR platform’s social media page had a post showing the platform’s community fashion preferences. This was the last post unrelated to the hoax airdrop.
Tips from scammers to stay away from scams
In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph on September 12, Kitboga—well-known for his antics aimed at wasting scammers’ time—provided advice on spot scammer methods.
He clarified that the one thing scammers always do is “give you a sense of urgency,” which must be handled calmly and thoughtfully to prevent falling victim.
Adhering to Kitboga’s guidance, supporters of Decentraland ought to maintain composure and thoughtfully evaluate their course of action over the purported hijacking of the VR platform’s X account.
