Why crypto brands must secure social media in 2026

Crypto companies must secure their social media because a single hijacked X or Instagram account can broadcast a fake token, a phishing link or a "wallet migration" notice to an entire community in minutes, and followers act on it because it comes from an official channel. In 2025 and 2026, attackers kept taking over exchange, wallet, founder and even mainstream brand accounts to push crypto scams, while U.S. victims reported more than $11 billion in crypto-related fraud losses in 2025 alone^[1].

For crypto firms, X, Instagram, Facebook and Telegram are where community updates, product launches and investor communications happen. That makes them critical assets, and it's why protecting them from hijacking and harmful content is now an urgent priority. Below, we look at why this matters so much in 2026, using recent incidents, official data and the real impact on projects' finances and reputations.

Why are crypto companies' social media accounts such a big target?

High-profile account hijackings have multiplied because hackers know that taking over an official X or Instagram account gives them instant access to a huge, trusting audience. Since late 2024 there's been a steady rise in these incidents^[2], and the pattern has carried right through 2025 and into 2026.

Attackers typically use a compromised account to post scam links, often promoting fake tokens, "airdrops" or giveaways, and unsuspecting followers are tricked into financial loss. Crypto transactions usually can't be reversed, so a single convincing post can drain wallets before the real team even knows it has lost access.

Crypto X and Instagram account hacks in 2025 and 2026

Celebrity, founder and influencer hacks

In February 2025, BBC broadcaster Nick Robinson's X account was hijacked to promote a Solana-based token called "dollar today," and he said the post went out to around a million people^[3]. A few months earlier, in August 2024, footballer Kylian Mbappé's account was used to promote a memecoin called $MBAPPE, which hit a market cap of $464 million before collapsing^[4].

Crypto founders are just as exposed. In July 2026, hackers took over Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev's X account and posted a fake "VLAD" memecoin with a token contract address. The post drew more than 175,000 views in less than 20 minutes before Robinhood confirmed the breach and said it was working with X to restore access^[5]. Even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has been hit: in September 2023 his X account was compromised and used to post a malicious NFT link, and about $700,000 was drained from followers' wallets^[6].

Official crypto projects and companies

Hackers aren't just targeting individuals. Company and project accounts get hit too, and they're often the most valuable targets because followers expect them to announce real launches.

In February 2025, the main X account of Solana DEX aggregator Jupiter was compromised and used to promote fake memecoins, while the team warned users not to click any links^[7]. Weeks later, memecoin launchpad Pump.fun lost control of its X account, and the attacker promoted a fake governance token followed by more scam tokens mocking the breach itself^[8].

The trend hasn't slowed in 2026. In October 2026, hardware wallet maker COLDCARD said an "Urgent Security Update" posted from its official X account was unauthorized. The post told users to move their funds through a phishing site. The company said its review found no matching login or session record and asked X to look into whether access could have happened at the platform level^[9]. A fake "migrate your funds" message from a wallet brand is about as dangerous as it gets, because it targets the exact users who hold the most crypto.

Older cases show the same playbook. Crypto exchange KuCoin's Twitter account was breached in April 2023 and used to post a fake giveaway; within 45 minutes, followers who clicked lost over $22,000 to the scam^[10][11]. (KuCoin later reimbursed victims and strengthened its security.) You can read how another major exchange handled a similar incident in our breakdown of the Binance X breach.

Mainstream brands pulled into crypto scams

Crypto scammers don't only hijack crypto accounts. On March 4, 2025, the official X accounts of the NBA and NASCAR were hacked to post fake press releases for an "NBA Coin" and a "$NASCAR Token." The NBA deleted the first post, but it kept reappearing before the situation was resolved later that day^[12]. We covered what NASCAR could have done differently in Brand protection: social media safeguards NASCAR missed.

In August 2026, the official Pokémon X account was compromised for about 30 minutes and used to announce an "official" $POKEMON memecoin with a contract address and link^[13]. Then in October 2026, Microsoft's X account, with more than 13 million followers, was hijacked to promote a $Clippy token. Microsoft confirmed "unauthorized access" and removed the posts^[14]. These incidents show that even the biggest brands aren't safe, and how quickly a fake crypto announcement can reach a huge audience.

NFT and Web3 gaming projects

NFT collections and Web3 game communities have been prime targets because of their active social followings. A notorious example is the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) hack of April 2022.

The project's official Instagram was compromised and used to advertise a fake "land airdrop" mint. Within hours, users who clicked the link and connected their wallets had 91 NFTs stolen (including Bored Apes and Mutant Apes) worth roughly $2.7 million to $3 million^[15]. (The image below shows the scam post the hackers crafted using BAYC's branding.)

In January 2023, the popular NFT project Azuki's Twitter account was taken over and used to share a phishing link, stealing about $758,000 in just 30 minutes before it was shut down^[16].

Gaming brands face similar risks. In July 2025, the official X account of the game Stellar Blade was hijacked to promote a "Stellar Blade Coin" and fake airdrops, and the hackers kept posting scam content for days while the studio worked with X to recover it^[17]. Each of these breaches caused immediate losses for the community and dealt a blow to user trust.

The frequency of social media hacks keeps climbing, and it doesn't always track the headline numbers for on-chain theft. Industry data showed that while total stolen crypto fell in 2023 compared with 2022, the number of individual hacking incidents actually rose, from 219 to 231^[18]. Many of those incidents involve social engineering and account takeovers rather than purely technical exploits.

By now, hijacking X or Telegram accounts to push crypto scams has become a go-to strategy for attackers^[16]. Hackers increasingly target the human and social layer, where one compromised account can broadcast scams to hundreds of thousands of followers in an instant.

What does a hacked social account cost a crypto company?

When a crypto project's social media gets hacked, the financial fallout can be severe. Unlike typical data breaches, these attacks directly trick users into handing over money or digital assets. Here are the main impacts.

Investor and user losses

The most immediate effect is money stolen from the project's community. Followers trust announcements and promotions from official channels, so they're easy prey if a hacker posts a "limited-time airdrop" or drops a malicious link in Telegram.

In the incidents above, users lost anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of dollars within minutes, and reach is the reason. The fake VLAD token post reached more than 175,000 views in under 20 minutes^[5]. That's how fast a fake post spreads.

Investors lost $691,000 through Vitalik's hacked account in one phishing scheme^[6]. In the Azuki hack, $758,000 was drained through malicious links^[16]. And when BAYC's Instagram was breached, one collector said they'd lost "over 100 ETH" worth of prized NFTs in the scam^[15].

These direct losses erode confidence and create angry victims who may even pursue legal action (some BAYC holders considered suing the project over its security^[15]).

Reputation and trust erosion

Beyond immediate thefts, a hack is a major reputational blow to the affected project or company. Seeing an official page post scam links shakes users' trust in the brand's competence and security.

As one industry analysis put it, these social media scams "damage confidence in both social media platforms and the crypto industry as a whole."^[2] A project that suffers this kind of incident can look careless, which makes investors and partners think twice. It can take a long time to rebuild credibility.

In fast-moving crypto markets, some projects never recover their former engagement or price momentum after a public breach. The negative press travels fast as well, since mainstream media often highlights crypto hacks, adding to the bad reputation crypto already battles with the public.

Market volatility and panic

False information from a compromised account can move markets in a heartbeat.

A striking example came in January 2024, when the U.S. SEC's own X account was compromised and falsely posted that Bitcoin ETFs had been approved. The SEC quickly said its account had been compromised and that no approval had been given^[19].

In crypto, where markets react heavily to social media, a single fake post can trigger wild swings. A hacker announcing a project's "shutdown" or a fake exploit could just as easily tank a token's price.

Crypto founders need to recognize that uncontrolled messages on their official channels can spark investor panic or misinformed trading. Even rumors or negative comments, if they aren't addressed quickly, can snowball into full-blown FUD that harms a project's token value and community sentiment.

Project setbacks and closures

In extreme cases, a social media breach can derail a project's progress or even contribute to its demise. For smaller projects or new NFT drops, a hack during a crucial sale or announcement can scare away users and drain momentum.

If users lose funds through the official channel, the team may face liability or simply lose its community's support. We've seen projects where, after a Discord or Telegram hack and the scam that followed, the community largely walked away out of fear or frustration.

The cost of cleanup can be huge even for the largest players. After bribed overseas support agents leaked customer data that criminals then used to impersonate Coinbase and trick customers into sending funds, Coinbase said in May 2025 that it expected costs of between $180 million and $400 million^[20]. That breach didn't start on social media, but it shows how expensive impersonation and social engineering become once they reach your customers.

While it's hard to pin a closure solely on a social hack, there's no doubt that poor security can be "make or break," especially for early-stage crypto startups. At minimum, teams have to divert resources to damage control and compensating victims (as KuCoin did^[16]) and to fixing security instead of building products.

Regulatory and legal implications

Authorities have grown less tolerant of weak security, especially when retail consumers suffer. The SEC account hack led U.S. senators to demand accountability and better controls over the agency's accounts^[19].

Regulators are also paying closer attention to impersonation on social platforms. In September 2026, the FTC asked for public comment on whether to update its rule on impersonation of businesses to address platforms' role in promoting impersonation scams. It noted that people reported losing nearly $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025^[21].

Project founders and marketing executives should recognize that protecting users is good practice and may become a compliance expectation. In a regulated context, a compromised account could be seen as a failure to protect investors, which could invite penalties or lawsuits (for example, for negligence if a breach was preventable).

Platform-by-platform risks: X, Instagram, Facebook and Telegram

Every social platform comes with its own security challenges for crypto projects. It's important to understand how attacks and harmful comments show up on each one.

X (formerly Twitter)

"Crypto Twitter" is arguably the most influential channel for the industry, and unfortunately it's ground zero for many scams. Hackers favor X for its real-time reach, since a compromised verified account can instantly post to hundreds of thousands of followers. Almost every 2025 and 2026 incident above, from Jupiter and Pump.fun to Pokémon, Microsoft and COLDCARD, played out on X.

Earlier cases followed the same script. Robinhood's Twitter account was hacked in January 2023 to promote a scam token called $RBH^[22]. In that case, the attackers also posted on the firm's Instagram and Facebook, and Robinhood pointed to a third-party vendor^[22], which shows how a single weak link in your social management setup can expose every channel at once.

X is also full of impostor accounts and reply scams, such as bots that reply to users with fake support helplines, or profiles impersonating CEOs to advertise "giveaways." Popular crypto posts attract waves of scam replies within minutes. Our guide on why trusted brands are the biggest target on X covers more of these tactics.

Negative or false comments can go viral on X too. A cynical post or rumor about a DeFi project can be reposted until it causes a mini bank run on that protocol's funds. Crypto teams need to actively monitor their X presence, quickly delete scam posts if they're hacked, and counter misinformation before it spreads.

Instagram and Facebook

Meta's platforms have huge user bases and have long been common launchpads for crypto fraud. FTC data from 2022 found that among people who lost crypto to scams that started on social media, the top platforms were Instagram (32%) and Facebook (26%)^[23].

The problem hasn't gone away. In its 2025 data, the FTC said Facebook had the highest reported losses of any social platform, with WhatsApp and Instagram a distant second and third^[24]. Reuters reported in November 2025 that one internal Meta document from December 2024 estimated users were shown 15 billion "higher risk" scam ads every day. Meta disputed the documents and said it had removed more than 134 million scam ad items so far in 2025^[25].

Part of the reason is the visual, ad-driven nature of these networks: scammers create professional-looking posts or ads that promise big crypto rewards. We saw how BAYC's Instagram hack produced a very authentic-looking "official announcement" of a fake airdrop, complete with the BAYC logo and a slick graphic.

Facebook is also used to spread crypto misinformation and fake news that can hurt a project's image. Fake Facebook pages of crypto startups sometimes lure users to phishing sites. Since many NFT and crypto gaming projects promote on Instagram and Facebook to reach mainstream audiences, leaving these accounts unsecured is a recipe for disaster.

The BAYC case shows that even turning on 2FA wasn't enough on its own^[15]. Teams should consider extra measures for these platforms, such as dedicated devices, restricted admin access and regular reviews of who has access to each account.

Telegram

Telegram is the de facto community chat app for crypto. Almost every project runs an official Telegram group or channel for investors, but Telegram is notoriously scammy if it's left unmoderated.

Impersonation and social engineering run rampant. Often, as soon as a newcomer asks a question in a group, a "support" account messages them privately. It's an impostor trying to steal their wallet keys or get them to send funds.

Telegram groups can also be hacked through admin account takeovers. If an admin's Telegram account is compromised (or a malicious bot gains privileges), hackers can drop phishing links to the entire community or pin fake announcements. One scam documented by security researchers involved a fake "airdrop bot" that told users to complete KYC by sending crypto to "verify," which went straight to the attackers^[26].

Another scheme saw attackers pose as Telegram staff offering "Premium gift" subscriptions; when users clicked the link, their accounts were hijacked^[26]. Organized Telegram groups have also been linked to large, coordinated pump-and-dump schemes^[27].

Researchers also documented a rise in 2025 in Telegram-specific fraud tactics, such as malicious bots that, once engaged, bombard users with phishing messages or even try to hijack the user's account^[26].

For crypto teams, a Telegram breach is especially damaging because it hits your core community, the loyal users in your chat. It can spread fear and confusion among your biggest supporters, so strict admin security, vigilant moderators and community education about DM scams are a must.

How big is the threat? Crypto scam numbers for 2025 and 2026

To understand the scale of social media-related threats in crypto, it helps to look at the latest official data.

Record crypto fraud losses

The FBI's latest Internet Crime Report counted 181,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints in 2025, with losses of about $11.4 billion, the highest of any category it tracks. Crypto investment fraud alone accounted for $7.2 billion of those losses^[1].

Large thefts from the industry itself also hit new highs. In February 2025, the FBI attributed the theft of about $1.5 billion in virtual assets from crypto exchange Bybit to North Korea^[28]. Industry tallies put the amount stolen in the first half of 2025 alone at about $2.17 billion, close to the $2.2 billion stolen in all of 2024^[29].

Not all of that is due to social media, but a big share of scams start there, and reported crypto fraud losses hit a record in 2025.

Social media as a prime vector

The FTC says people reported losing $2.1 billion to scams that started on social media in 2025, an eightfold increase since 2020. Nearly 30% of people who reported losing money said the scam started on social media, and investment scams made up $1.1 billion of those losses^[24].

For crypto specifically, the FTC found that 49% of people who reported losing crypto to a scam from January 2021 to March 2022 said it started on social media, with Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram the top platforms named^[23]. X wasn't broken out in that data, but scam bots and crypto fraud are widespread there too^[30].

Account takeover is its own category of loss. The FBI received about 4,700 account takeover complaints in 2025, with losses of $359.7 million^[1]. Our guide to social media scams and how brands fight back breaks down the attack patterns behind these numbers.

Coordinated scam campaigns

These hacks are rarely isolated. They're often part of coordinated campaigns.

Throughout 2024, researcher Molly White tracked a "slew of Twitter account compromises" pushing the same fake $OPENAI token scam, including several OpenAI-related accounts that were hacked over a period of months^[31].

The pattern continued in 2025. On-chain investigator ZachXBT said the Pump.fun hack was "directly connected onchain" to the earlier compromises of the Jupiter DAO and DogWifCoin X accounts^[8]. An earlier analysis of NFT Discord hacks also found that many were linked, pointing to a network of hackers recycling the same techniques across projects^[32]. In other words, if one project's social media is weak, it probably isn't alone, and the same attackers may hit several projects in a row.

Older and new investors at risk

The human cost shows up in the demographics. Scammers on social media often prey on people with less tech experience. In 2025, Americans over 60 reported about $4.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related losses to the FBI, including about $2.8 billion from crypto investment fraud^[1].

Newcomers lured by "get rich quick" posts on Facebook or fraudulent YouTube and Telegram promos are frequently duped as well.

This matters for crypto companies because your new potential customers might run into a fake version of your project on social media before they ever find the real one. If someone impersonates your brand and scams users, it can turn away large groups of would-be users and create terrible word of mouth.

How can crypto companies protect their social media accounts?

Given these trends, project founders and marketing executives need to treat social media protection as a top priority in 2026. Here are the key takeaways.

1. A single breach can cost millions: Social accounts are gateways to your entire community. If they're hijacked, they can lead directly to stolen funds (as much as $3 million in one incident) and lasting financial harm to your users^[15]. The payoff for hackers is huge, so expect them to keep targeting you, and invest in defense accordingly.
2. Trust is your most valuable asset: Crypto is built on community trust. A hack or an unchecked flood of scam comments can shatter credibility overnight^[2], and users might not give you a second chance. Safeguarding social platforms is as critical as securing your code or treasury, because it's part of protecting your brand's integrity.
3. Threats span every major platform: Whether it's a phishing post on X, a fake ad on Instagram or Facebook, or impostors on Telegram, every channel has vulnerabilities. Don't assume any platform is "safer." Use strong, unique passwords, mandatory 2FA (ideally an authenticator app or security key rather than SMS) and team-friendly 2FA on every account that represents your project. Limit admin access, remove old employees and agencies promptly, and use official verification so users can tell real accounts from fakes.
4. Active moderation and community education are crucial: Protecting social media also means policing the content. Crypto companies should use staff or tools to remove scam comments and phishing links, and respond quickly to rumors. Deleting fake giveaway replies on your posts keeps users from being led astray. Regularly reminding followers that "we will never DM first" or "beware of fake airdrop and migration links" helps them resist common tactics, and many successful projects pin official security tips in their channels.
5. Have a rapid response plan: Incidents can happen despite precautions, as even the SEC learned^[19]. What matters is how fast and well you respond. Prepare an emergency plan: if your X account is hacked, know how to reach the platform's support quickly, and broadcast warnings on your other channels right away. With KuCoin, quick action and transparency (plus compensating victims) helped contain the damage^[16]. Speed matters: Pokémon regained control in about 30 minutes and publicly confirmed the posts weren't approved^[13]. Projects should also be ready to pause transactions or reward programs if a false announcement of a partnership, hack or migration is spreading, until the truth is clear.

How Spikerz helps crypto teams secure their social accounts

Spikerz is a social media security platform that protects brand and executive accounts on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn. It connects through official platform APIs, so your team never has to share passwords. For crypto companies, that means account takeover protection that flags suspicious logins and can log intruders out and rotate the password, impersonator detection and takedown for fake founder and support profiles, and AI comment moderation that hides scam replies and phishing links in more than 25 languages. Access management also shows you exactly who can get into each account, so you can remove access the moment someone leaves.

If you'd like to see how this would work for your project, book a consultation with our team.

To summarize

Securing social media is now a fundamental part of running a crypto project. The 2025 and 2026 incidents show that bad actors will keep exploiting any weakness, from sophisticated account takeovers to waves of scam comments aimed at your users.

The scale of the threat is clear from the billions in reported losses and the many examples we've covered. By learning from these incidents and proactively strengthening your social channels, crypto companies can protect both their community and their own future.

The stakes, in dollars and in reputation, could hardly be higher. With vigilant security and user education, projects can stay one step ahead of scammers and keep the trust that's so essential in Web3.

Sources

The cases and statistics in this article come from official government data (FBI and FTC), major news outlets and documented incident reports. Key examples such as the NBA and NASCAR X hack^[12], KuCoin's breach^[16] and the BAYC Instagram exploit^[15] illustrate the patterns discussed. Together with the aggregated data on losses^[1] and the share of scams that start on social media^[24], they paint a clear picture: crypto companies ignore social media security at their peril. Protecting these channels means protecting your community's assets and your project's survival.

[1] 2025 IC3 Annual Report, FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, April 2026. https://www.ic3.gov/annualreport/reports/2025_ic3report.pdf

[2] Social media hacks and crypto scams: how influencers are being exploited. https://www.tokenmetrics.com/blog/high-profile-social-media-hacks-and-cryptocurrency-scams-how-hackers-are-exploiting-influencers?0fad35da_page=1&74e29fd5_page=90

[3] BBC journalist Nick Robinson’s social media hacked to promote cryptocurrency, The Irish News, February 2025. https://www.irishnews.com/news/uk/bbc-journalist-nick-robinsons-social-media-hacked-to-promote-cryptocurrency-UUYAZDHYDJN6VJ35VMIWG5ZD7U/

[4] Kylian Mbappé token hit $464 million market cap, then crashed to zero, Decrypt, August 2024. https://decrypt.co/246999/kylian-mbappe-token-hit-464-million-market-cap-crashed-zero

[5] Robinhood CEO X account hacked in apparent memecoin scam, Cointelegraph, July 2026. https://cointelegraph.com/news/robinhood-ceo-x-account-hacked-in-apparent-memecoin-scam

[6] $700K in crypto and NFTs lost in phishing attack through Vitalik Buterin’s hacked X account, CryptoSlate. https://cryptoslate.com/700k-in-crypto-and-nfts-lost-in-phishing-attack-through-vitalik-buterins-hacked-x-account/

[7] Solana DEX aggregator Jupiter’s X account hacked, promotes fake memecoin, The Block, February 2025. https://www.theblock.co/post/339128/solana-dex-aggregator-jupiters-x-account-hacked-promotes-fake-memecoin

[8] Pump.fun’s X account hacked to promote fraudulent tokens, The Block, February 2025. https://www.theblock.co/post/343515/pump-funs-x-account-hacked-to-promote-fraudulent-tokens

[9] COLDCARD seeks X probe after phishing post, Crypto Daily, October 2026. https://cryptodaily.co.uk/2026/10/coldcard-x-account-phishing-link

[10] KuCoin’s Twitter account hacked, exchange says it will reimburse victims, CryptoSlate. https://cryptoslate.com/kucoins-twitter-account-hacked-exchange-says-it-will-reimburse-victims/

[11] KuCoin’s Twitter account hack led to asset losses worth over $22,000, CryptoPotato. https://cryptopotato.com/kucoins-twitter-account-hack-led-to-asset-losses-worth-over-22000/

[12] Hackers crack NBA, NASCAR social accounts, offer fake crypto coins, Awful Announcing, March 2025. https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/hacker-nascar-social-media-accounts-fake-crypto-coin.html

[13] Pokémon promotes memecoin ahead of Championships, Kotaku, August 2026. https://kotaku.com/pokemon-memecoin-world-championships-hack-twitter-2000729053

[14] Microsoft’s X account hacked in crypto pump-and-dump scheme, BleepingComputer, October 2026. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsofts-x-account-hacked-in-crypto-token-pump-and-dump-scheme/

[15] Bored Ape Yacht Club Instagram hacked, NFTs worth millions stolen, Vice. https://www.vice.com/en/article/bored-ape-yacht-club-instagram-hacked-nfts-worth-millions-stolen/

[16] KuCoin to reimburse victims of the short-lived Twitter account hack, Cointelegraph. https://cointelegraph.com/news/kucoin-to-reimburse-victims-of-the-short-lived-twitter-account-hack

[17] Stellar Blade’s X account still hacked after a week, devs ask fans to stay cautious, Gaming Amigos, July 2025. https://www.gamingamigos.com/post/stellar-blade-x-account-hacked

[18] Stolen crypto falls in 2023, but hacking remains a threat. https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/crypto-hacking-stolen-funds-2024/

[19] SEC says compromised account to blame for tweet approving Bitcoin ETF, The Guardian, January 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/09/sec-twitter-account-hacked-bitcoin-etf-not-approved

[20] Coinbase extorted for $20M: support staff bribed, customers scammed, The Register, May 2025. https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/15/coinbase_extorted_for_20m_support/

[21] FTC seeks public comment on whether to update rule on impersonation of government and businesses to address platforms’ role in promoting impersonation scams, Federal Trade Commission, September 2026. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/09/ftc-seeks-public-comment-whether-update-rule-impersonation-government-businesses-address-platforms

[22] Robinhood’s Twitter account hacked to promote a scam token, ForkLog. https://forklog.com/en/robinhoods-twitter-account-hacked-to-promote-a-scam-token/

[23] Reports show scammers cashing in on crypto craze, Federal Trade Commission, June 2022. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2022/06/reports-show-scammers-cashing-crypto-craze

[24] Reported losses to scams on social media eight times higher than in 2020, Federal Trade Commission, April 2026. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2026/04/reported-losses-scams-social-media-eight-times-higher-2020

[25] Meta earns fortune on fraudulent ads, internal documents show (Reuters), Khaleej Times, November 2025. https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/tech/meta-earns-fortune-fraudulent-ads

[26] Telegram scams in 2025. https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/phishing-and-scam-in-telegram-2025/54090/

[27] Crypto’s $3.2 trillion scam: just 489 people behind massive Telegram pump-and-dump, Coinmonks. https://medium.com/coinmonks/cryptos-3-2-trillion-scam-just-489-people-behind-massive-telegram-pump-and-dump-9486c39cc6e3

[28] North Korea responsible for $1.5 billion Bybit hack (Alert I-022625-PSA), FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, February 2025. https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250226

[29] Cryptocurrency theft statistics, DemandSage. https://www.demandsage.com/cryptocurrency-theft-statistics/

[30] Social media crypto scams. https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/social-media-crypto-scams

[31] OpenAI Twitter account once again hacked and used to promote scam token, Web3 Is Going Just Great. https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=openai-twitter-account-hack

[32] NFT projects lost $22M to largely the same hackers on Discord, Decrypt. https://decrypt.co/106024/nft-projects-lost-22m-to-hackers-in-one-month-via-discord-report