Crypto News– A highly sophisticated social engineering scheme managed to deceive multiple well-known crypto news outlets into promoting a fake $10 million Uniswap airdrop on February 16. The perpetrator, impersonating a Uniswap Foundation representative, promised coordinated publicity alongside the legitimate announcement of Uniswap v4.
Uniswap Airdrop: Several Leading Crypto Media Duped in Reported 10 Million Dollars Uniswap Airdrop Scam
CryptoSlate opted out of covering the airdrop due to concerns regarding potential tampering with tracking links after publication. While Uniswap’s v4 announcement was authentic, the associated airdrop turned out to be a scam.
The scammer meticulously established credibility, claiming to have spoken with “Uniswap’s VP of Communication” and suggesting favorable payment terms. This level of coordination indicates a new sophistication in the tactics employed by scammers targeting the crypto media sector.
As discussions of a potential partnership progressed, the scammer escalated the complexity of their deception. They even provided a forged screenshot of an email purportedly sent to CryptoSlate to validate the legitimacy of the campaign. However, CryptoSlate discovered that the links in the email used redirects instead of standard UTM parameters for tracking, allowing them to be altered to redirect to any website at any time, without requiring changes to the content.
When confronted, the scammer ceased further communication. The company implicated in the scam is registered in the United Kingdom, one of the top three countries for crypto-related crimes in 2023.
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