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NFT Scam Hits ESPN Reporter’s Twitter Account
Scammer Targets NBA Top Shot Users
NFT scams are not all that unusual on Elon Musk’s X. Neither are high-profile accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, getting hacked. However, it’s not everyday that an ESPN reporter with millions of followers gets hacked by a scammer looking to trick users of arguably the most mainstream NFT project into giving them access to their crypto wallets. On Saturday evening, ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski’s account on X published a post linking to a “free NFT pack” for NBA Top Shot customers who connected their crypto wallet to the platform. The link included in the post sent users to the URL “nbatopshot dot org,” where users were prompted to connect their crypto wallet in order to gain access to the supposed “free NFT pack.” One problem for those who clicked the link, however: The giveaway was not real. NBA Top Shot’s official domain is “nbatopshot dot com” not “dot org.” Wojnarowski’s X account was compromised.
Celebrity Accounts Hacked on Twitter
High-profile hacked accounts, like Wojnarowski’s, are becoming much too common on Elon Musk’s X. Mashable has previously reported on the proliferation of hacked accounts belonging to celebrity users, such as the hacker who promotes the “10 MacBooks” scam. Celebrities like Anya Taylor-Joy and LeVar Burton have had their X accounts stolen and then used by the hacker to try and bilk their followers out of money. Oftentimes, these accounts are stolen by hackers impersonating official X company accounts or employees, who then socially engineer users into giving them their account information.
An airdrop is a common promotional tactic found in the crypto space where projects will reward users with freebies like tokens or NFTs after they invest in the project or connect their crypto wallets to a platform. The practice has also been commonly weaponized by scammers looking to drain users’ crypto wallets of funds or assets with the newfound permissions granted by a user after connecting their account. NBA Top Shot was one of the hottest NFT projects of the crypto boom of the early 2020s, but has experienced a decline in popularity in recent years.
