Vitalik Buterin’s X account hacked, over $691K drained from victims’ wallets

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, allegedly had his X (formerly Twitter) account compromised. According to prominent blockchain investigator ZachXBT, the incident has led to victims collectively losing over $691,000 after clicking on a malicious link.

In a Sept. 9 post on X, Dmitry Buterin, the father of Vitalik, announced that his son’s account had been compromised:

“Disregard this post, apparently Vitalik has been hacked. He is working on restoring access.”

The post he was referring to has since been deleted. It was published on Buterin’s account, claiming to celebrate the arrival of “Proto-Danksharding coming to Ethereum.“

The hacker shared a malicious link to an alleged free commemorative nonfungible token (NFT) available, enticing victims to connect their wallets before ultimately stealing all their funds.

Consequently, this incident has led Ethereum developer Bok Khoo, better known as Bokky Poobah on X, to claim he has suffered losses in his CryptoPunk NFT collection. 

WARNING! I JUST LOST A FEW PUNKS!

DON’T INTERACT! pic.twitter.com/lS4VvlHdVa

— chiefeditor.eth@encyclopediagalactica.eth ohgod.et (@BokkyPooBah) September 9, 2023

At the time of publication, the prevailing floor price for a CryptoPunk NFT stands at 46.99 Ether (ETH), which is approximately equivalent to $76,837.

Related: Blockchain Capital’s X account hacked to promote token claim scam

ZachXBT has been actively informing his 438,200 followers about the hacker’s activities. He recently shared that the most valuable NFT pilfered so far is CryptoPunk #3983, worth 153.62 ETH, equivalent to approximately $250,543.

Update: $691k drained (another 33% in drainer fee address) pic.twitter.com/AVIShqDlMU

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 9, 2023

A user with the alias Satoshi 767 on X claimed that Buterin might not have implemented sufficient security measures for his X account.

“I hate to be the one to say it, but Vitalik should take accountability for his poor op-sec and compensate those affected,” he stated, before implying that he believes Buterin’s oversight led to the attack:

The only way this isn’t negligence on Vitalik part is if someone at X internally compromised the account, or if he was coerced in person by a criminal who threatened violence. I highly doubt that’s what happened. Most likely, this was a SIM swap.

However, ZachXBT challenged these allegations, asserting that Buterin’s high profile makes him susceptible to various forms of hacking attempts:

“You do not know yet whether it was a SIM swap. Vitalik is a big enough target to where an insider could have been paid off or panel was used,” ZachXBT stated.

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