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OpenAI’s official press account on X has reportedly been compromised by cryptocurrency scammers, mirroring previous incidents involving the company’s leadership.
On Monday afternoon, OpenAI Newsroom, a newly created account intended for product and policy announcements, posted about a fictitious OpenAI-branded blockchain token called “$OPENAI.” The post misleadingly claimed, “We’re very happy to announce $OPENAI: the gap between AI and blockchain technology.
All OpenAI users are eligible to claim a piece of $OPENAI’s initial supply. Holding $OPENAI will grant access to all of our future beta programs.”
However, the $OPENAI token does not exist, and the post included a link to a phishing site designed to imitate the legitimate OpenAI website, featuring the suspicious URL “token-openai.com.” A prominent “CLAIM $OPENAI” button on the fake site urged users to connect their cryptocurrency wallets, likely aiming to steal login credentials.
As of publication, both the phishing post and site remained active, along with a repost promising more information about the token later in the week. Notably, comments on the malicious post were disabled, obscuring the nature of the hack.
This is not the first instance of OpenAI accounts being exploited for phishing schemes. In June 2023, a similar incident occurred involving OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s account, which also promoted the non-existent $OPENAI token. More recently, in June, the accounts of OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki and researcher Jason Wei were hacked to publish identical scam messages.
Scammers have employed various tactics, such as using “crypto drainer” tools to siphon NFTs and tokens from victims’ wallets upon signing into fake sites. High-profile accounts from tech companies and celebrities have frequently fallen prey to these scams, including a notable 2020 incident where accounts belonging to Apple, Elon Musk, and Joe Biden were hacked to promote a bitcoin scam.
According to the FBI, Americans lost $5.6 billion to cryptocurrency scams in 2023, marking a 45% increase from the previous year. The FTC reports over 50,000 scams in the first half of 2024, costing consumers nearly $2.5 billion, suggesting that this trend may continue to escalate.
