Hackers have taken over the Twitter account of Gate.io, one of the biggest platforms across the crypto market. With this, the platform users are running the risk of being scammed by criminals. Malicious actors used the breached account to run a fake promo. The said promo lured users to win USDT by clicking a link suspected to be a phishing scam posted in the bio section on the official account.
Upon discovering the account anomaly, Gate.io’s security team immediately reached out to Twitter to suspend the account and issued an announcement about the account anomaly, prompting users to pay attention to cyber security. Gate.io will provide full compensation for the losses.
Gate.io has returned to normal according to an announcement
Twitter has been one of the most accessible medium to reach wide audiences, including potential new audiences. With this, hackers are working overtime to try to breach handles belonging to known entities. After this, they send out phishing links for users to earn free digital assets, usually as a giveaway. After the bad actors took control of the Gate.io account, the bio of the company account was immediately changed to a fake (gate.com). This website was built to look and feel like the original but is a fraudulent representation where users could lose tons of funds if they input information to access their accounts.
PeckShield warns traders of the scam
The website attached to the account is currently promoting a 500,000 USDT giveaway where users can earn as much as possible. The only thing the website proposes is that they connect their wallet to the website. Meanwhile, the hackers are waiting at the back channel to siphon funds in wallets belonging to users if they click on the link and connect their wallets. PeckShield has also alerted the general public to the ongoing scam and asked the crypto community to avoid clicking the said link. Presently, Gate.io has not issued an update regarding its account or the scam used to run.
Investors have also been warned to double-check URLs before entering any platform as they might be fake. Aside from that, increased scams have been being run using Bitcoin ATMs across the United States. The FBI claims that scammers are using all sorts of schemes to steal from their victims and pull off the crime without getting caught. The statement from the regulator claimed that users are being mandated to pay funds into accounts overseas to get prepaid cards. The FBI claims that hackers have used all these methods to move thousands of dollars.
Note that Gate.io has issued a formal statement regarding the recent incursion of its Twitter account, Please see the document for more information. An announcement to users was also made about the return to normalcy and how to avoid further phishing attacks.
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