On what ESPN Major League Baseball reporter Jeff Passan called the “biggest news day” of his life, scammers hijacked his Twitter account to promote an NFT giveaway.
With MLB and the Players Association (MLBPA) locked in a protracted impasse over a labor agreement that resulted in canceled games, Passan had just broken the news of a key agreement between the two parties on the international draft.
Hey, remember the time I got hacked on the biggest news day of my life
– Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 10, 2022
However, as he eagerly awaited Passan’s next development, his account suddenly started promoting freebies for the Skulltoons NFT project. His username was also changed to “Jeff.eth,” while his profile picture featured artwork from the NFTs, and his bio read “NFT Enthusiast, MLB Insider, Father, Husband, Mod for @skulltoonsNFT, @Azukizen, @thugbirdz.”
The tweets (which have since been deleted and salvaged via screenshots) established that Passan had teamed up with Skulltoons to give away 20 pre-order slots for an upcoming March 20th drop, and of course people had to click a nefarious-looking link to get it to get a chance to win.
Oh no pic.twitter.com/KpkQl1kbiG
– Alex McDaniel (@AlexMcDaniel) March 10, 2022
Following reports of the hack circulating online, the team behind Skulltoons distanced themselves from the hacker’s posts as they warned the community to beware of scams:
“Looks like Jeff Passan was hacked by someone trying to scam our community… We are in no way affiliated with Jeff. We hope he gets his Twitter back as soon as possible.”
Looks like Jeffpassan was hacked by someone trying to scam our community as Castellanos has a drive down deep left field and that will be a home run making it a 4-0 ball game
— Shortest Stop (@ShortestStop) March 10, 2022
The hack didn’t last long, and ESPN reportedly moved quickly to get Passan’s account back within two hours. To announce his return, Passan changed his Twitter background to a white image with the simple caption, “I’m back,” echoing NBA icon Michael Jordan’s famous quote when he came out of retirement to pause for a second stay to play the Chicago Bulls.
Related: The Company is auctioning 1-of-1 Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle Card NFT in what may be the most valuable sports NFT to date
Hackers often try to hijack popular social media accounts to trick followers into thinking they are seeing legitimate promotions from people they support. Cointelegraph reported in late January that dozens of YouTube accounts including BitBoy Crypto, Altcoin Buzz, Box Mining, Floyd Mayweather, Ivan on Tech, and The Moon were hacked to promote crypto scams.
