Binance Co-founder Calls on Elon Musk to Address Cryptocurrency Scams on X Platform
Yi He, co-founder of Binance, has expressed her concerns about the rise of cryptocurrency scams on the social media platform X, which is owned by Elon Musk. Taking to the app recently, Yi He questioned whether Musk would take action to combat the issue.
Yi He’s worries were sparked by a particular impersonation scam that was taking place on the X platform. She shared screenshots of accounts that were clearly pretending to be her, using her X handle (@heyibinance) and her real name. In one instance of the scam, users were lured into clicking on a link that promised access to Binance-backed memecoins.
Yi He made it clear that no such coins had been released and warned that clicking on the link could result in the loss of funds. She wrote, “I have not created any new MEMEcoins. Clicking on the link will lead to your money being stolen. Many people have fallen victim to this hacker’s link and have lost a significant amount of money. Is there any way to address this issue?”
Rise in Crypto Scams on X
Cryptocurrency scams have been on the rise on X, with analysts attributing a large portion of all crypto scams to scammers on the platform. Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam company present on X, conducted an analysis that revealed nearly $50 million is lost each month due to account impersonation on X.com.
While these issues existed before Elon Musk’s involvement in the platform, the confusion surrounding the new owner’s controversial paid verification service may be contributing to the ongoing vulnerability of the general public to impersonation scams. The service allows anyone with a smartphone to register and receive verification, potentially making it harder to differentiate between genuine accounts and fraudulent ones.
Though Musk has expressed his intention to address “bot” and “spam” issues on the platform, it remains unclear whether he has specifically tackled cryptocurrency scams. As of now, Musk has not responded to Yi He’s post on X.com.
Hacked X Accounts Used to Promote Scams
Since the start of 2024, several X accounts belonging to major companies and crypto influencers have been compromised to promote fake promotions. In January, the US regulator SEC’s X account was hacked to announce fake approvals for Bitcoin ETFs.
The X safety team later attributed the breach to a SIM-swapping attack linked to the official phone number of the @SECGov account. Similarly, accounts for Netgear and Hyundai MEA were targeted by crypto scammers who promoted scams designed to infect victims with cryptocurrency wallet-draining malware.
In addition, cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko experienced a security breach when their X account was compromised in a phishing attack. During a brief period on January 10, a phishing scam link was posted on their X account, falsely claiming a CoinGecko token airdrop. The hackers promoted a new cryptocurrency called GCKO, falsely stating it could be used to pay for API services like the cryptocurrency ANKR.
