Imagine you’re chillin’ on a crypto news site, maybe grabbing your morning espresso, and boom, a pop-up appears, flashing a shiny token giveaway worth thousands.
Sounds like a dream, right? Wrong. It’s a nightmare dressed like a daydream.
It’s a trap
That’s exactly what happened to visitors of Cointelegraph and CoinMarketCap, because hackers pulled a slick front-end exploit, tricking people into connecting their crypto wallets to claim fake tokens.
And guess what? Wallets got drained faster than your office coffee pot on a Monday morning.
Cointelegraph broke the news on Sunday, admitting their site got hit by a fraudulent pop-up promising a fair launch initiative token giveaway.
They warned users, don’t click, don’t connect, don’t trust any prompts asking for wallet access or personal info.
The scam was so convincing, it even claimed the token was audited by blockchain security firm CertiK. Spoiler alert, of course it wasn’t.
Funds aren’t safu?
The malicious JavaScript was sneaky, hiding in Cointelegraph’s ad system, showing fake token prices and dangling nearly $5,500 worth of tokens if you took the bait. Just two days earlier, CoinMarketCap faced the same dirty trick.
🚨 The malicious JS code appears to come from Cointelegraph's advertising system.
Related files:
https://adbutlerserve[.]com/assets/inject.js
https://adbutlerserve[.]com/assets/90435885-4428-4fc3-ade0-378d793ea392.js pic.twitter.com/QbH7kaDBLx— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) June 23, 2025
Their site got infected with similar code, pushing fake wallet connection requests disguised as verification.
The bad news? Some users fell for it. The good news? CoinMarketCap cleaned house fast and promised to reimburse the 39 victims who lost about $18,570 collectively.
Changpeng Zhao, former Binance CEO, didn’t mince words on X.
“Hackers are targeting info sites now. Be careful when authorizing wallet connect.”
2 days ago CMC, now CT. Hackers are targeting information web sites now. Be careful when authorizing wallet connect.
For CMC, based on initial on-chain analysis, there are 39 victims with a combined loss of $18,570. @CoinMarketCap will cover all losses. https://t.co/egkekyjAYQ
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) June 23, 2025
Wise words, my friends. These scams are costly. In June alone, phishing and front-end exploits have hit crypto and traditional finance hard.
TRM Labs reports that phishing and malware attacks made up 70% of the $2.2 billion lost to crypto hacks in 2024.
Stay sharp
And if you think that’s all, hold on. Around the same time, blockchain security firm Hacken got hit too.
Some crook found a private key with minting powers and flooded the market with $250,000 worth of Hacken Token, crashing its price by 99%.
Imagine showing up to the office, only to find your prized project’s value wiped out overnight. Yeah, it’s that bad.
Stay sharp out there, because in crypto, it’s a jungle, and the predators are getting craftier every day.
Disclosure:This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Kriptoworld.com accepts no liability for any errors in the articles or for any financial loss resulting from incorrect information.
