Official Lego website hacked to promote crypto scam

Lego website with advert for cryptocurrency scam
(Image credit: Mescad - R/Lego)

The official LEGO Group website was hijacked by crypto scammers to promote a fake cryptocurrency.

The false advert for "LEGO coin" promised ‘secret rewards’ for those who bought the currency, and included a ‘buy now’ button which led to a phishing site.

The incident occurred at 3am CET, but LEGO’s Danish head office was quick to remove the message, which was only displayed for around 75 minutes. The toymaker confirmed no customer accounts were compromised, and that the cause has been identified and measures are being implemented to prevent another attack.

" On 5 October 2024 (October 4 evening in the US), an unauthorised banner briefly appeared on LEGO.com," the company's official statement said. "It was quickly removed, and 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."

The ad appeared as a banner on the Lego site, which redirected visitors to an external marketplace where they could purchase ‘LEGO tokens’ using popular cryptocurrency Ethereum.

Fake cryptocurrencies are frequently used by fraudsters to trick unsuspecting victims out of their money, with ads, posts, or social media messages accounting for the introductions of almost half of the scams.

These mostly come in the form of ‘investment’ opportunities, where victims are encouraged to join fake cryptocurrencies and buy into as much as they can, with some even showing false ‘gains’ or earned money. The scam comes to fruition when victims try to withdraw their money, but are charged extortionate ‘fees’ to do so.

In 2023, this type of fraud stole a staggering $4.57 billion according to the FBI, costing more money than ransomware that year. This has continued into 2024, with the average amount stolen per incident rising by almost 80%, primarily due to bitcoin’s success.

Tech companies have recently teamed up against the scams, providing tools and knowledge to help protect customers from fraud. Tech Against Scams have pledged to share intelligence and help educate people to reduce the amount of successful scams.

Via Engadget

More from TechRadar Pro

Ellen Jennings-Trace
Staff Writer

Ellen has been writing for almost four years, with a focus on post-COVID policy whilst studying for BA Politics and International Relations at the University of Cardiff, followed by an MA in Political Communication. Before joining TechRadar Pro as a Junior Writer, she worked for Future Publishing’s MVC content team, working with merchants and retailers to upload content.

Read more
Bitcoin
Fake Ledger data breach emails used to trick victims into giving up recovery phrases
Smartphone with new logo X twitter app background. Application twitter old blue bird change X black and white new.
Phishing campaign targets prominent X users, accounts at risk
ransomware avast
Ransomware, deepfakes, and scams: the digital landscape in 2024
Ethereum
Hackers steal over $1bn in one of the biggest crypto thefts ever
Trump
Hackers are abusing $TRUMP tokens to lure victims in to new phishing scam
A concept image of someone typing on a computer. A red flashing danger sign is above the keyboard and nymbers and symbols also in glowing red surround it.
Fake Reddit sites found pushing Lumma Stealer malware
Latest in Pro
Squarespace
Build a website for less with 10% off Squarespace subscriptions
UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer
UK PM says AI should soon replace civil servants
Image depicting hands typing on a keyboard, with phishing hooks holding files, passwords and credit cards.
Microsoft warns about a new phishing campaign impersonating Booking.com
Ransomware
Microsoft uncovers sleuthy new XCSSET MacOS malware campaign
An image of network security icons for a network encircling a digital blue earth.
Why effective cybersecurity is a team effort
Computer Hacked, System Error, Virus, Cyber attack, Malware Concept. Danger Symbol
Meta warns of worrying security flaw hitting open source type software
Latest in News
A graphic of the PC Gaming Show
Get ready for a bounty of PC games on June 8, as the PC Gaming show is back
A smartphone on a sofa showing the WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal apps
Forget AI – WhatsApp is planning a simple messages feature that could be its most useful upgrade in years
NordicTrack Ultra 1
The new NordicTrack Ultra 1 treadmill looks like it was designed by an architect and costs $15,000
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070
Nvidia RTX 5080 stock is so barren that retailers are holding competitions where you can "win" the right to buy one for MSRP
Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft shareholder accuses publisher of 'misleading investors', plans protest outside Paris HQ
Google Gemini AI logo on a smartphone with Google background
I made an AI version of Bilbo Baggins using Goggle Gemini for free, and shared a pipe with him outside Bag End – here’s what you can now do with Gems