(Credit: Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)
Lego’s website was temporarily compromised on Friday by crypto scammers who attempted to dupe Lego fans into buying a fake “LEGO Coin" cryptocurrency.
The website promised “secret rewards” to buyers of the fake coin and redirected them to a website that was taking payments in Ethereum, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. However, according to The Brick Fan and Lego fans on Reddit, it was just over an hour before the attackers were stopped and the website returned to normal.
LEGO Coin first appeared on Lego's homepage late Friday night East Coast time before being removed roughly 75 minutes later.
Lego did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a statement provided to The Brick Fan, Lego said: "The issue has been resolved. No user accounts have been compromised, and customers can continue shopping as usual. The cause has been identified and we are implementing measures to prevent this from happening again."
Though the Lego brand has expanded into everything from movies to video games and amusement parks over the past decades, it has not ventured into crypto, save for a 2021 NFT-related tweet it quickly deleted.
Crypto scams are becoming increasingly common, however. ChatGPT maker OpenAI had one of its official social media channels hijacked earlier this month. The “OpenAI Newsroom" account on X/Twitter suddenly began promoting a fake cryptocurrency called "$OPEANAI", directing viewers to a malicious link containing a phishing scam.
The scam was aimed at draining the wallets of crypto buyers interested in the made-up coin.
Even some of the US government’s most important regulators have been compromised by crypto scammers attempting to inflate the value of cryptocurrencies. In January, hackers gained access to the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) official X account, @SECGov, and posted that the SEC had approved Bitcoin ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), a type of Bitcoin investment fund, which it had not yet done.
Scammers have also exploited celebs, from Elon Musk to 50 Cent, to push bogus crypto schemes.
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