Scammers hacked the British Army’s social media accounts to promote the NFT
On July 3, hackers gained access to the British Army’s official Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts and announced fraudulent collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies for over four hours.
Just after 2 pm ET, the Ministry of Defense’s (MOD) press office in the UK tweeted that they were aware that the army’s accounts on social media had been hijacked and that an investigation had been launched.
The British Army recovered the accounts in four hours
Around 5:45 PM ET, almost four hours later, the office published one Update that the account violations were corrected. The British Army’s official Twitter account apologized for the tweets and promised to look into the matter and “learn from this mistake”.
Users have shared photos of the British Army’s official Twitter account, revealing that hackers are promoting at least two fake NFT compilation versions called “The Possessed” and “BAPESCLAN.”
The hackers are seen attaching a tweet to a fake coin of The Possessed NFT collection. This tweet contains a phishing link, which, if clicked, will drain users’ cryptocurrency wallets of their assets. One of the collection’s authors, Tom Watson, alerted his followers to the fake material and asked them to report it.
The hackers posted livestream videos of fictional interviews with Twitter founders Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk on YouTube under the renamed account, which resembled the Cathie Wood-based investment company Ark Invest. These videos attracted thousands of viewers.
How the attack was carried out, who was behind it, and how many people may have been tricked by the phishing and scam links is currently unclear. The British Army has since removed all links, tweets and related content from the compromised accounts.
