Kaito AI and Founder Yu Hu Fall Victim to X Social Media Hack

Kaito AI, an artificial intelligence-driven platform providing crypto market analysis, and its founder, Yu Hu, were targeted in a social media hack on X on March 15. Hackers took control of the account and falsely claimed that Kaito AI’s wallets had been compromised, warning users that their funds were at risk. The misleading posts, which have since been deleted, aimed to incite panic among investors.

Hackers Allegedly Shorted KAITO Before Spreading False Alerts

According to blockchain investigator DeFi Warhol, the attackers allegedly opened a short position on KAITO tokens before posting the misleading messages. Their goal was to trigger a sell-off, causing the token’s price to plummet and allowing them to profit from the artificial downturn. Shortly after the breach, the Kaito AI team regained control of the compromised account and reassured users that their wallets remained secure. In a statement, the team emphasized that they had implemented strong security measures to prevent such incidents, adding that the attack appeared similar to other recent social media breaches affecting crypto-related accounts.

The incident is part of a growing trend of cyberattacks targeting the crypto industry. On February 26, the X account of Pump.fun, a fair-launch platform, was hijacked by a hacker who used it to promote fraudulent tokens, including a fake governance token. Blockchain researcher ZackXBT later linked the attack to similar breaches involving the Jupiter DAO and DogWifCoin X accounts.

Cybercriminals Ramp Up Sophisticated Scams to Target Investors

Cybercriminals are also employing more sophisticated scams to deceive investors. On March 7, the Alberta Securities Commission warned the public about a fraudulent crypto scheme called CanCap, which used fabricated news articles and fake endorsements from Canadian politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to lure victims. The scam played on concerns about a potential trade war between Canada and the U.S.

Meanwhile, security experts are warning of a new threat linked to the North Korean state-sponsored Lazarus Group. Hackers posing as venture capitalists are reportedly luring targets into Zoom meetings, where they claim to have technical issues and redirect victims to a malicious chatroom. There, they encourage users to download a so-called “patch,” which contains malware designed to steal crypto private keys and other sensitive data.

In February 2025, losses in the crypto ecosystem increased by 20x month-over-month compared with January 2025, according to the latest report by major blockchain security platform Immunefi. In January, registered losses stood at $73,915,700. Just a month later, this figure jumped to $1,528,342,400. The latter was the result of nine hacks. Additionally, the February number is an 18x increase from the same time a year prior. In February 2024, registered losses were $81,603,400.