Cybercriminals use X ads to promote malicious websites that can loot cryptocurrency wallets, compromise personal information, and scam unwary users.
However, individuals and organizations need to keep their eyes open to protect themselves from the ever-evolving threats posed by cybercriminals. Here’s everything you need to know about our news…
Cybercriminals use X ads to commit fraud
X, formerly known as Twitter, claims to serve ads based on user activity, resulting in ads that match users’ interests. However, there are rumors that X is increasingly showing ads that promote cryptocurrency scams.
These scams include fake cryptocurrency gift links, phishing sites, and malicious scripts that can steal all the assets in a connected wallet.
Because X displays ads based on user interests, users not frequent the cryptocurrency space may not see these malicious ads. However, those who do are now subjected to an endless bombardment of scam ads.
One user reported that every ad they see on X links to a scam designed to drain cryptocurrency users’ wallets.
Im not lying when I say EVERY single ad I am seeing on @X is a scam link targeted at crypto to drain peoples wallets. @elonmusk my dude; I appreciate your tenacity and straight shooting, but this is a monumental fail of the most epic proportions. People are losing ALOT of money.
— Guido™️ (@GuidoDisalle) January 3, 2024
Attackers have been abusing X’s advertising platform for some time. Still, the volume of malicious ads has skyrocketed in the past month. This prompted security researcher MalwareHunterTeam to track them down.
The researcher has published screenshots of X ads, many containing crypto scams from verified users.
The situation has gotten so bad that other X users leave community notes on the ads to warn others that they are scams or wallet-busters.
Last month, ScamSniffer reported that a cryptocurrency drainer called ‘MS Drainer,’ advertised in Google search and X ads, stole $59 million from 63,210 victims over nine months.
On X, the threat actors created ads purporting to be limited edition NFT collections, fake airdrops, and new token launches.
It is unclear what kind of vetting process X has to prevent these ads. Still, many users are frustrated that no more scrutiny of the ads allowed to run on the site exists.
Bloomberg reported last month that X’s advertising revenue is expected to drop by more than 50 percent to $2.5 billion by 2022.
This led X users to believe that Twitter was turning a blind eye to these malicious ads to support declining ad revenues.
Also, have you heard about cyber kidnapping? If not, you can visit our related article.
As a result, cybercriminals are using X’s advertising platform to promote malicious websites that can drain cryptocurrency wallets, steal personal information, and defraud unsuspecting users. X must take responsibility and implement better review processes to prevent these malicious ads from running on its platform.
Featured image credit: Freepik
