Polychain Capital, a firm concentrating on cryptocurrency investments, has confirmed that the X account of its founder and CEO, Olaf Carlson-Wee, has been hacked.
The breach was uncovered on Jan. 4 when Carlson-Wee’s account started promoting a fake airdrop for Polychain’s native token, PCHAIN. The hacker claimed the airdrop was part of Polychain’s New Year celebration, with the post including links that led to a phishing website.
However, soon after Polychain discovered the breach, it put out a statement acknowledging the hack and warning users against interacting with Carlson-Wee’s X account until further notice.
The account, with more than 19,000 followers, has reportedly been retrieved, and the offending post deleted — but not without more than 40,000 X users viewing it. It is yet to be discovered how many people may have interacted with the post or lost their assets as a result.
The Carlson-Wee incident is the latest in a long line of hacks and scams perpetrated against the crypto community. In December, users of the Orbit Chain’s cross-chain bridge endured significant losses due to a hack that escalated the month’s total losses from such incidents to nearly $100 million.
The Orbit Bridge attacker, who struck at 8:52 pm UTC on Dec. 31, stole various cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).
In response, Orbit Chain’s team announced efforts to freeze the stolen assets and collaborate with international crypto exchanges and law enforcement agencies to recover them.
Phishing scams continue unabated
Phishing scams have been a scourge on the crypto industry, with several reports highlighting just how prevalent they were in 2023. According to blockchain security platform Scam Sniffer, crypto phishing scams affected more than 324,000 people in 2023, resulting in nearly $300 million in losses.
Another report by SlowMist revealed that a total of 464 security incidents led to almost $2.5 billion in losses the same year. The numbers represent a 34.2% decrease from 2022, which recorded slightly over 300 incidents and losses of $3.8 billion.
According to the report, last year, the decentralized finance (defi) sector was the most targeted, experiencing over 280 security incidents, which accounted for 60.7% of all incidents that year and caused $773 million in losses, which interestingly marked a substantial 62.7% decrease from 2022.
Notably, the SlowMist report indicated that Ethereum experienced the highest losses due to scams, rug pulls, and breaches, totaling $487 million. Polygon also fell victim to scams and hacks, with losses amounting to $123 million.
Other blockchain security firms like PeckShield, CertiK, and Beosin also released reports of their own, estimating total crypto losses due to scams, breaches, and exploits in 2023 between $1.51 billion and $2 billion, with the North Korea-linked hackers Lazarus Group accounting for 17% of these losses.
