OpenAI’s official press account on X was recently compromised by cryptocurrency scammers, the same group responsible for hacking accounts of company leadership in the past months.
On Monday afternoon, the OpenAI Newsroom account, which is meant to share product and policy updates, posted about a fake blockchain token called “$OPENAI.”
The fraudulent post falsely claimed, “We’re very happy to announce $OPEANAI [sic]: the gap between AI and blockchain technology,” and encouraged users to claim their share of the token’s initial supply. Holding the non-existent $OPENAI, the post suggested, would grant access to OpenAI’s future beta programs.
The link in the post led to a phishing website disguised as the legitimate OpenAI site, though it used the incorrect URL “token-openai.com.” On the phishing page, a button urged users to connect their cryptocurrency wallets, aiming to steal credentials and funds.
Both the malicious post and phishing site remained active as of publication, with comments on the post disabled to make the scam less obvious. The scammers also promised “further information” about the fake token to be released later in the week.
This incident is part of an ongoing series of phishing attacks targeting OpenAI-related accounts. Back in June 2023, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s X account was hacked to promote a similar fake $OPENAI token. Additionally, in the past three months, the accounts of OpenAI’s chief scientist Jakub Pachocki and researcher Jason Wei were also compromised, with both being used to publish scam posts identical to Monday’s incident.
The tactics used in these scams resemble those reported during Murati’s hack. At the time, the scammers deployed a “crypto drainer” tool that emptied victims’ cryptocurrency wallets once they connected to the fraudulent OpenAI site. This method is becoming increasingly common in cryptocurrency scams across high-profile accounts.
Cryptocurrency scams on X and other platforms have been on the rise. In a notable 2020 hack, scammers hijacked the accounts of Apple, Elon Musk, and Joe Biden, posting a bitcoin wallet address with the promise that any payments made to the wallet would be doubled and returned.
According to the FBI, Americans lost $5.6 billion to cryptocurrency scams in 2023, a 45% increase from the previous year. As of mid-2024, over 50,000 cryptocurrency scams have been reported, costing victims nearly $2.5 billion, according to the FTC. These scams are expected to continue to grow as more users fall victim to sophisticated phishing attacks.
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