British Army social media restored after hack promoting NFT scams

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The official Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts of the British Army were briefly hacked on July 3 by digital currency scammers. The compromise lasted for nearly four hours, during which time the scammers promoted spoofed non-fungible token (NFT) projects. 

The Ministry of Defence first informed the public that it was aware of the breach of the British Army’s accounts via a tweet. It added that it was investigating the matter. 

We are aware of a breach of the Army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts and an investigation is underway.

The Army takes information security extremely seriously and is resolving the issue. Until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further.

— Ministry of Defence Press Office (@DefenceHQPress) July 3, 2022

During the period of the breach, the scammers used the Twitter and Facebook accounts of the British Army to post phishing links to fraudulent derivatives of at least two NFT collections, including The Possessed and BAPESCLAN NFT collections.

British Army Twitter account @BritishArmy appears to have been hacked pic.twitter.com/41HPtSeln1

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 3, 2022

The scammers also edited the British Army’s YouTube channel to resemble ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood. The channel was then used to host four fake live streams in which Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk were being interviewed. 

They also displayed a QR code in the Livestream requesting users to send digital currency and receive double of what they send in return. Over 19,000 viewers were watching the stream on observer notes. 

https://twitter.com/wariotifo/status/1543674109187465216?t=RJXSuYiz_fMgXM19vgmwdg&s=19

In a later update, the Ministry of Defence’s account stated that the breach had been resolved, although the investigation was still ongoing. The hackers’ identity, how they carried out the feat, and the extent of possible damages are still unknown. 

The breach of the Army’s Twitter and YouTube accounts that occurred earlier today has been resolved and an investigation is underway.

The Army takes information security extremely seriously and until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate to comment further.

— Ministry of Defence Press Office (@DefenceHQPress) July 3, 2022

Digital asset scams flourishing on social media platforms

The British Army’s accounts are not the first to fall victim to such hackers. Scammers have often targeted the accounts of popular projects and figures. A few recent ones include the hack of the BAYC Twitter, Instagram, and Discord accounts, as well as the hack of the Twitter account of Beeple, a popular NFT creator. 

Recently, the FBI warned of the growing predominance of digital assets investment scams on LinkedIn, a popular professional and business networking social media platform. 

According to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report, social media was the biggest avenue scammers used to target victims to steal over $1 billion in digital assets in 2021. Digital assets attract scammers because of several features, including the immutability and privacy of transactions, the FTC’s senior data analyst Emma Fletcher told the Washington Post.

Watch: The BSV Global Blockchain Convention panel, Law & Order: Regulatory Compliance for Blockchain & Digital Assets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzSCrXf1Ywc&t=1013s