Hackers breach Cointelegraph, Coinmarketcap with new wallet connection scam

Description

Crypto news outlet Cointelegraph revealed on Sunday that its website was compromised in a front-end exploit tricking visitors into connecting their crypto wallets and claiming a fraudulent token airdrop.

Authors

Florence Muchai

Publish date

June 23, 2025

Publisher

Cryptopolitan

Web URL

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/hackers-breach-cointelegraph-wallet-scam

Referenced by

Cointelegraph and CoinMarketCap hit by user-targeted attacks

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News story

In both the CoinMarketCap and Cointelegraph attacks, the hackers used similar social engineering tactics.

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Quote

The fake pop-up claimed that users had been randomly selected for a new token giveaway as part of a “fair launch initiative” supposedly backed by Cointelegraph to reward loyal readers. Per several reports on social media, a malicious JS script was likely added to CT’s advertising system to display a fabricated token price, and promised each participant nearly $5,500 worth of tokens if they connected their wallet to the site. The pop-up also falsely alluded that blockchain security firm CertiK had audited the smart contract behind the token

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