Key Takeaways
- The scam post promoted a SAND token airdrop and encouraged users to “check eligibility and claim on the site,” referring users to a website with a different URL than the official one.
- The scam site is no longer accessible
The CEO of The Sandbox, Arthur Madrid, fell victim to a Twitter account hack on May 26, resulting in the promotion of a fake “airdrop” phishing scam.
The scam post advertised a SAND token airdrop and encouraged users to “check eligibility and claim on the site,” referring users to a website with a different URL than the official one. Madrid, who apparently regained control of his account, posted a warning to Sandbox users, urging them to avoid clicking on any suspicious links related to Airdrops or URLs that appear scam-like.
He emphasized that the official URL for The Sandbox is http://sandbox.game and urged users to verify the authenticity of any other URLs. Prior to Madrid’s tweet urging users to exercise caution, The Sandbox’s official Twitter account also issued a warning, revealing that a scammer had taken control of the account and was promoting a fraudulent airdrop of SAND tokens.
A screenshot of the scam post was included, which directed users to a website with a different URL than the official one, encouraging them to check eligibility and claim their tokens.
The Sandbox team promptly took action, stating that they were actively working on taking down the scam site and resolving the issue as soon as possible. The team stated that they were “working on getting the site down and fixing it ASAP.” Currently, the alleged scam site is no longer accessible.
Phishing scams in the cryptocurrency industry are unfortunately not uncommon, with scammers leveraging popular platforms like Twitter to deceive unsuspecting users and steal their funds. The latest development also comes amid a Kaspersky report stating that cryptocurrency phishing attacks witnessed a 40% year-on-year increase in 2022.
Earlier this month, a scam service called “Inferno Drainer” reportedly stole nearly $6 million from unsuspecting crypto users. Last month, a suspected phishing scammer known as Monkey Drainer reportedly illicitly obtained approximately $1 million worth of Ether through the use of deceptive copycat nonfungible token (NFT) minting platforms.
