The University of the Philippines‘ (UP) main Twitter account, @upsystem, was compromised on Monday as part of a suspected NFT scheme that attempted to take advantage of the university’s verified account.
This is yet another demonstration of why the academe should be cautious about believing what they see on media platforms, even if it speaks from an account with a blue checkmark.
The account was renamed “Takashi Murakami” in a conspicuous attempt to fool followers into thinking it was the official account of the contemporary Japanese creator, famed for his pop-art sentiments and signature “Superflat” visual style.
The profile description was removed, and the account’s location was revised to Tokyo.
“To commemorate the release, we are going to airdrop Murakami Flower Seeds!” said one of the first tweets from the hacked account. This post was accompanied by a link to a phishing webpage.
In crypto jargon, “airdrop” refers to the distribution of new NFTs, and Murakami Flower Seeds are a genuine set of NFTs made by the real Murakami.
The phishing twitter posts claimed that the NFTs were free to claim, but that people would have to pay “gas” charges, which are the costs of completing transactions on the blockchain.
According to a statement released by UP on Tuesday, the account is still to be retrieved, despite the bogus tweets being taken down.
UP encouraged its followers to stay up to date by following the university’s other official online accounts.
NFT phishing and hacking
NFT phishing swindlers are notorious for targeting verified accounts in order to give their illicit links more credibility.
In recent months, accounts of well-known personalities and institutions, including the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and the Ministry of Education, have been hacked on Twitter.
Murakami warned his supporters earlier this month concerning phishing schemes posing as legitimate Murakami NFTs, urging them to only recognize his official website.
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