Blast Airdrop Scammers Leverage Verified Organization Tools to Target Users

In anticipation of Blast's airdrop Wednesday, a minefield of malicious links cropped up on Twitter as scammers appeared to leverage tools meant for verified organizations.

Blast’s airdrop anticipation met with a wave of scam links

Blast users were set to receive 17 billion BLAST tokens in a collective airdrop. However, malicious actors flooded Twitter with fraudulent posts, aiming to capitalize on the anticipation surrounding the airdrop.

These posts bore the same profile picture and display name as Blast’s official Twitter account, urging users to visit scam websites quickly. The posts also carried “Gold checkmarks,” which are given out by verified organizations under the platform’s current ownership.

One such post, from an unverified account named studio_tribu, stated: “THE MOMENT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. The $BLAST Allocation Checker is now LIVE!” This scam link was shared in Blast’s official Discord server.

A community moderator quickly intervened, swatting down the potentially wallet-draining link before it could cause any harm.

While scam links on Crypto Twitter are not a new phenomenon, Wednesday's deluge of fake posts highlighted the platform’s ongoing struggles in combating bad actors. At least a dozen accounts, posing as Blast, churned out fake posts, each boasting a gold checkmark, given out to affiliates of verified organizations.

For instance, Blast’s actual Twitter username is "Blast L2." However, an account named "Blast_L2_now__" had attained verification, simply adding "_now__" to the正規名, in an attempt to get users to click a scam link and connect their wallets.

According to cybersecurity firm Scam Sniffer, one victim lost $217,000 in crypto after visiting a phishing website that mimicked Blast. The user had signed multiple phishing signatures at once, Scam Sniffer noted.

? Beware of fake Blast phishing websites!?️‍♂️ 10 minutes ago, a victim lost $217,947 due to signing multiple phishing signatures. ?? pic.twitter.com/GSJfjLSNht

— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) June 26, 2024

Blast users were collectively set to receive 17 billion BLAST tokens as part of the network’s initial airdrop. Created by the makers of the incentivized NFT marketplace Blur, Blast’s distribution yielded an initial market cap of $392 million.

However, numerous fraudulent posts claimed that Blast’s airdrop had begun much sooner than anticipated. These posts used the same profile picture and display name as Blast’s legitimate Twitter account. Several accounts beckoned users to visit fake websites quickly, and these posts also carried “Gold checkmarks,” which are introduced under the platform’s current owner, Elon Musk.

One such post, from an unverified account, stated: “THE MOMENT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. The $BLAST Allocation Checker is now LIVE!” This scam link was shared in Blast’s official Discord server.

A community moderator quickly intervened, swatting down the potentially wallet-draining link before it could cause any harm.

While scam links on Crypto Twitter are not a new phenomenon, Wednesday's deluge of fake posts highlighted the platform’s ongoing struggles in combating bad actors. At least a dozen accounts, posing as Blast, churned out fake posts, each boasting a gold checkmark, given out to affiliates of verified organizations.

For instance, Blast’s actual Twitter handle is "Blast L2." However, an account named "Blast_L2_now__" had attained verification, simply adding "_now__" to the正規名, in an attempt to get users to click a scam link and connect their wallets.

According to cybersecurity firm Scam Sniffer, one victim lost $217,000 in crypto after visiting a phishing website that mimicked Blast. The user had signed multiple phishing signatures at once, Scam Sniffer noted.