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Crypto scammers tried to bribe X employees to reinstate suspended accounts
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Crypto scammers tried to bribe X employees to reinstate suspended accounts

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Crypto scammers and other malicious actors ran a bribery network that targeted employees of the social media network X, with the goal of having suspended accounts reinstated, X said Friday.

Summary

  • X says its taking legal action against a bribery network of crypto scammers.
  • The individuals have allegedly tried to bribe X employees in order to have suspended accounts reinstated.

X noted that it was taking strong action after exposing “a bribery network” by platform users linked to crypto scams, and has instituted legal proceedings. This came after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk discovered that the scammers paid middlemen in attempts to influence employees to restore suspended accounts.

“X has exposed and is taking strong action against a bribery network targeting our platform. Suspended accounts involved in crypto scams and platform manipulation paid middlemen to attempt to bribe employees to reinstate their suspended accounts,” X posted via its Global Government Affairs account.

Scammers also target TikTok, YouTube

Per the platform, the bribery network consists of individuals who exploit social media sites such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Minecraft and Roblox to scam unsuspecting users. Perpetrators of these scams and manipulation, and who are linked to the bribery scheme, have connections to known criminal organizations like “The Com”, X noted.

“Legal proceedings are underway against participants, and we’re fully supporting law enforcement,” the platform added.

The Com is among several criminal organizations that target both crypto and mainstream companies or entities. The group, also known as “The Community” or “Hacker Com,” is largely an English-speaking outfit that has been linked to various cyberattacks and breaches, including hacks of the U.S. court system.

As well as crypto hacks, bad actors have used social media to promote fake projects.

In June this year, hackers compromised the X account of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz to shill a fraudulent token. 

Similar breaches and fake token announcements have befallen X accounts of crypto platform ZKSync, Curve Finance and Jupiter. In April, crypto fraudsters seized control of a UK lawmaker’s X account and used it to promote a fake Solana token. “Breaking Bad” actor Dean Norris also said scammers took over his X account to promote an $8 million memecoin scam dubbed DEAN.



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Gaming Gear

Check Your Bank Accounts, You Might Spot a Deposit From a Facebook Lawsuit

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Read your email carefully this week: On Monday morning, I received an email from PayPal with the enticing subject line, “Your Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation Settlement Payment.” And no, it wasn’t a scam. I opened it to find my PayPal account had been sent $37.55 as my share of Facebook’s $725 million privacy settlement. 

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

I was glad I spotted the email, because the money would’ve sat there in PayPal until I made a PayPal purchase. Instead, I chose to transfer it to my bank, where it’s expected to show up by Thursday.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that if you neglected to file a claim by the 2023 deadline, you’re out of luck.

This all stems from what might be the largest privacy settlement in US history: Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is paying $725 million to settle claims involving the sharing of user data with third-party companies.

Back in 2018, Facebook was accused of improperly disclosing users’ personal information. Cambridge Analytica, a UK political consulting firm with ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, ended up with the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. Meta denied any wrongdoing, saying in a 2023 statement that it agreed to the deal because “it’s in the best interest of our community and shareholders.”

A representative for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The amount you receive depends on how long you had an active Facebook account.

Screenshot by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper/CNET

Payment amounts differ

The official website for the lawsuit has more information about settlement payments. It notes that settlement payments are being sent only to class members with approved claims. Distribution of the payments will continue over the next 10 weeks. If your claim is approved, a notification will be sent to your email a few days before your payment is issued.

If you are unsure of the status of your claim form and would like to check, you can send an email to the Settlement Administrator at info@facebookuserprivacysettlement.com, but you must include your Claim ID.

Some recipients will be paid via direct deposit, Venmo, Zelle, a mailed check or a virtual prepaid MasterCard, based on the method they chose when they filed their claim. I certainly didn’t remember which method I chose back then, but the PayPal email jogged my memory.

Your settlement amount might be slightly different from mine. The website says authorized claimants receive one point for each month in which they had an active Facebook account during the class period. The number of points helps determine the amount you’re paid.

According to CBS News, the average payment amount is $29.43, and the maximum payout is $38.36.



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GameFi Guides

Kraken Acquires Breakout to Enable Leveraged Bitcoin Trading With Funded Accounts

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In brief

  • Kraken has bought proprietary trading platform Breakout.
  • It’s the latest acquisition by the crypto exchange.
  • San Francisco-based Kraken has said it is planning to go public.

U.S. crypto exchange Kraken has acquired proprietary trading platform Breakout, the company announced Thursday, as it continues its efforts to expand services ahead of a planned public offering. 

San Francisco, California-based Kraken said it bought Breakout for advanced traders. The platform allows eligible users to access up to $200,000 in notional capital and retain up to 90% of profits. Top traders are rewarded for making large trades. 

Kraken would not tell Decrypt the price of the transaction. 

“Breakout gives us a way to allocate capital based on proof of skill rather than access to capital itself,” Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in a statement. “In a world that is rapidly shifting from who you know to what you know, we want to build systems that reward demonstrated performance, not pedigree.”

Breakout offers traders 5 times leverage on BTC and ETH contracts. But traders have to pass an evaluation before receiving a notional capital allocation—and are subject to retests if they breach drawdown thresholds.

In a press release, Kraken said that it was “empowering” successful “traders to allocate at size into crypto markets,” and reaffirmed its aim to provide “innovative, performance-based products.” The company expects to integrate Breakout into its Kraken Pro platform. 

The debut comes as Kraken offers new products, including stocks and exchange-traded fund trading in certain U.S. states. In March, Kraken also announced it was buying futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. 

The company intends to go public, a Kraken spokesperson confirmed to Decrypt earlier this year, possibly as early as early 2026, according to a Bloomberg report. The company would then become the second U.S.-based crypto exchange to trade publicly, following Coinbase, which listed on Nasdaq in April 2021. 



Kraken’s plans come amid a friendlier political and regulatory environment for digital assets ushered in by the administration of Donald Trump, who received massive donations from industry stalwarts during his 2024 run for president. 

In late March, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed enforcement actions against Kraken and two other crypto firms filing joint stipulations to drop the cases with prejudice, making the decisions final and not subject to refile. The regulator has also ended cases against Coinbase, Robinhood, Uniswap Labs, and OpenSea, among others. 

Sethi noted that the acquisition would enable Kraken to provide a service consistent with how “modern capital platforms should work.”

“By integrating Breakout into Kraken, we are building an infrastructure layer where traders can earn their way into size, deploy capital with minimal friction, and get paid on merit,” he said.

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Overwatch 2 takes action against 23,000 cheats, bringing total of banned accounts to over 1m players
Game Reviews

Overwatch 2 takes action against 23,000 cheats, bringing total of banned accounts to over 1m players

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Overwatch 2 has “enacted” over 23,000 “actions” against cheaters after rolling out a new system to find and detect players who use mouse and keyboard in console lobbies, a practice known as ximming.

While “enacted” doesn’t necessarily mean all 23,000 accounts were banned outright, Blizzard says that brings the overall total of banned accounts to over 1m players.

Wuyang | New Hero Gameplay Trailer | Overwatch 2.Watch on YouTube

“The new Mouse and Keyboard support will impact how we action users who previously used unapproved third-party peripherals to gain an advantage over players in the Controller Pool,” Blizzard explained in a new blog post. “Bypassing the set restrictions in that pool with unapproved peripherals will be considered cheating and actions will be taken on your account.

“Previously, we deployed technology to help find and detect players who were using those peripherals on consoles. We enacted over 23,000 actions against players since that deployment. This included players who were directly using unapproved peripherals as well as players who grouped up with them to benefit from that unfair advantage.”

Blizzard then admitted that it had to “adapt to new workarounds” but was now ready to “take more aggressive actions against those who try to circumvent the competitive integrity of our console players.”

“We’ve rolled out new tech for Season 18 that should help us spot players that use unapproved peripherals faster and with more reliability,” the post added. “We’re also laying down harsher consequences on users of unapproved peripherals, since the legitimate opportunity to compete using Mouse and Keyboard on an even playing field is now available, regardless of whether you own a PC or console.”

Previously, the team would “warn and restrict” any offenders and send them to the PC Pool, especially for cheats playing at Competitive levels above Diamond.

Now, however, “continuing to use unapproved peripherals and devices in the Controller Pool will result in a full game account ban regardless of the player’s rank or mode”.

The recent action has resulted in over one million accounts being banned from playing Overwatch 2. This includes players who used aimbots, wallhacks, and other cheats, as well as those who grouped up with known cheaters.

“While the effort to stop cheaters and the cheats they use is an ongoing effort, we want to reiterate our commitment to ensuring the outcome of every Overwatch match is determined by skill and passion, and not through unfair advantages,” Blizzard added.

Aside from the Stadium update, Overwatch 2 Season 18 introduced significant changes, including heroes Wuyang, Pharah, Winston, and Brigitte, plus the Route 66 and London maps, new game modes, new All-Star rewards, Endorsements, and more.



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Crypto Trends

Adele, Future and Michael Jackson Instagram Accounts Hijacked for Crypto Scam

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In brief

  • Official Instagram accounts for Michael Jackson, Adele, and Future were apparently hijacked to promote a meme coin.
  • The token, named after a clothing brand and record label attached to Future, reached a near $900K market cap before plummeting.
  • The scammer made off with around $49,000 after dumping the majority of the tokens.

The Instagram accounts of superstar musicians Adele, Future, Tyla, and the late Michael Jackson were hacked to promote an unaffiliated Solana meme coin late Thursday. 

The hacker used the celebrities’ pages to share now deleted posts of what appears to be an AI rendering of Future, holding an oversized coin inscribed “FREEBANDZ”—the name of a record label and clothing line connected to the rapper, as well as the Solana meme coin promoted in the posts.

The rapper’s account is no longer active on Instagram, and the cryptocurrency does not appear to actually be linked to Future or his apparel brand.

Created on popular Solana token launchpad Pump.fun, the meme coin briefly ran to an all-time high market cap just shy of $900,000 before collapsing by nearly 98%, to $20,000. 

Following the run-up, the token’s creator—a Solana address ending in “zcmPHn”—dumped 700 million tokens, or 70% of the total supply in a single transaction, sending the price crashing down in the process. 

The rug-puller, likely connected to whoever hijacked the celebrities’ Instagram accounts, walked away with 251.57 SOL, or more than $49,000 at today’s Solana price.



While the posts have been deleted, none of the celebrities that were compromised in Thursday’s hack have made public statements on Instagram or X as of Friday afternoon.

Hacking popular social media accounts to promote meme coins and other crypto scams is not a new phenomenon. 

Earlier this year, the UFC’s official Instagram account was hacked, leading to $1.4 million in losses for crypto users. And the creator of the character “Chill Guy” had his account stolen multiple times after a Solana meme coin based on the viral TikTok craze blew up to a $650 million market cap. 

Even Barack Obama and Elon Musk have seen their social media accounts swiped and misused in a malicious crypto scheme. Malicious actors typically seek to use prominent social media accounts to pump the value of a coin before selling and crashing the price—a classic pump-and-dump scheme.

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