Sandbox CEO’s Twitter was hacked, used to promote alleged ‘airdrop’ scam

Arthur Madrid, co-founder and CEO of the metaverse project The Sandbox, was the victim of a Twitter account hack on May 26, according to a post by Madrid, apparently made after recovering the account. The attacker allegedly used the Madrid account to promote a fake “airdrop” phishing scam.

In Madrid’s post, they warned sandbox users to “Never click on any link that promotes an airdrop or URL that looks SCAMMY – and 100% use our proper and unique URL/domain name: http://sandbox.game.”

My twitter was hacked today. And now it’s back. Please don’t click on any link that promotes airdrops or URLs that look scammy – and 100% don’t use our proper and unique URLs/domain names: https://t.co/X3rXN9z8z7

— Arthur Madrid (@arthurmadrid) May 26, 2023

Four hours before Madrid’s post, The Sandbox’s official Twitter account also warned that a scammer had taken control of the account and was promoting “a scam/phishing link for fake airdrops of SAND tokens.”

The post included a screenshot of the alleged scam post, which advertised a SAND token airdrop and encouraged users to “check eligibility and claim the site”, prompting users to enter a link other than the official URL. A reference was made to a website with a different URL.

The sandbox team said that they were “working on mitigating the site and getting it fixed as soon as possible.”

⚠️ Our CEO & Co-Founder Arthur Madrid’s Twitter Account Has Been Hacked ⚠️

Hacker posting scam/phishing link for fake airdrop of SAND tokens.

⛔️Don’t click on the link and instead report the post so that it gets blocked.

We are working to take the site down and fix it… pic.twitter.com/sOqzAV5OUT

– The Sandbox (@TheSandboxGame) May 26, 2023

As of 8:26 p.m. UTC, the alleged scam site appears to have been removed, as it now generates a 404 error.

Connected: Six Tools Hackers Use To Steal Crypto: How To Protect Your Wallet

Phishing attacks have become a frequent problem in the crypto community. On May 19, a scam-as-a-service called “Inferno Drainer” was discovered to allegedly operate on Telegram, recruiting website builders to create hundreds of phishing scam sites. By the time it was discovered, it had allegedly stolen around $6 million from users.

On 15 April, cyber security firm Kaspersky reported that these types of attacks are expected to increase by 40% in 2022 compared to the previous year.