By duping readers into clicking a malicious link, the hackers hijacked the prominent reporter’s account in an attempt to promote giveaways for the Skulltoons NFT project.
Scammers hijacked ESPN Major League Baseball reporter Jeff Passan’s Twitter account to promote a nonfungible token (NFT) giveaway.
With the Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) locked in a protracted labour dispute that resulted in cancelled games, Passan had just delivered word of a significant agreement between the two parties about the international draught.
hey remember that time i got hacked on the biggest news day of my life
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 10, 2022
With all eyes on Passan’s next move, his account abruptly began pushing prizes for the Skulltoons NFT project. His account was also changed to “Jeff.eth,” and his bio read “NFT Enthusiast, MLB Insider, Father, Husband, Mod for @skulltoonsNFT, @Azukizen, and @thugbirdz.”
The tweets (which have since been deleted and recovered via screenshots) stated that Passan had teamed up with Skulltoons to give away 20 presale spots for an upcoming March 20 release. And, of course, participants had to click on a dubious-looking link to be eligible to win.
oh no pic.twitter.com/KpkQl1kbiG
— Alex McDaniel (@AlexMcDaniel) March 10, 2022
Following internet allegations of the hack, the team behind Skulltoons distanced themselves from the hacker’s tweets, warning the community to be cautious of scams:
“It appears as though Jeff Passan’s account was hacked by someone attempting to defraud our community… We are in no way associated with Jeff. We hope he is able to regain access to his Twitter account as soon as possible.”
Looks like jeffpassan got hacked by someone trying to scam our community as there's a drive into deep left field by Castellanos and that'll be a homerun so that'll make it a 4-0 ballgame
— Shortest Stop (@ShortestStop) March 10, 2022
ESPN apparently moved quickly to reclaim Passan’s account within two hours after the attack. Passan altered his Twitter backdrop to a white graphic that simply said “I’m back,” a nod to the iconic phrase from NBA legend Michael Jordan when he returned from retirement to play for the Chicago Bulls for a second stint.
Hackers frequently attempt to take over big social media accounts in an attempt to fool followers into believing they are seeing genuine promotions from people they support. In late January, that hundreds of YouTube accounts, including BitBoy Crypto, Altcoin Buzz, Box Mining, Floyd Mayweather, Ivan on Tech, and The Moon, had been hijacked to promote cryptocurrency scams.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
