Watcher Guru, a leading crypto news and updates platform, has confirmed that its official X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked early on March 21, resulting in the spread of false information across its linked social media platforms. The breach triggered immediate concern among the platform’s nearly 3 million followers as an unauthorized post falsely claimed a partnership between SWIFT and Ripple’s XRP for cross-border payments.
Unauthorized XRP Post Triggers Concern
At around 2:05 AM UTC, a post appeared on the Watcher Guru X account, alleging that payment giant SWIFT was finalizing an agreement with Ripple to use XRP for international remittance services. The post was quickly deleted, and the platform issued a warning stating that the message was not from their team but from a malicious actor who had gained access to the account.
“Our X account has been hacked and the previous post (now deleted) was posted by a hacker. We have 2FA enabled and have taken extreme measures to avoid hacks,” Watcher Guru stated in a follow-up post.
Compromised Post Reached Multiple Platforms
Due to Watcher Guru’s integration of automated bots that repost X updates across its other channels, the fake XRP announcement was simultaneously pushed to its Telegram, Discord, and Facebook accounts. The team has since removed all unauthorized posts and is working with X’s support team to investigate the breach further.
Suspected Social Engineering Attack
While the investigation is ongoing, Watcher Guru suspects that the attack may be linked to a malicious X link the team received on Telegram on March 5. The suspicious link contained a “token” query string not commonly found in legitimate X URLs, suggesting it may have been part of a social engineering ploy to gain unauthorized access.
“We did not think much of it since it was an official link, but sent a message to X’s head of Cyber Security @cstanley just in case. However, we did not receive a response,” the team noted in its statement.
Although Watcher Guru cannot confirm a direct link between the strange URL and the hack, the team highlighted that a similar incident affected another crypto media platform, DB News, despite the presence of two-factor authentication (2FA) on both accounts.
Broader Trend of Platform Exploits
The incident adds to a growing list of high-profile social media breaches in the crypto space. In February, luxury fashion brand Dior’s Instagram account was compromised and used to promote a fraudulent Solana-based memecoin, which briefly reached a $280,000 market cap before crashing 90% after the post was removed.
Hackers often exploit these breaches to promote scam tokens, capitalize on FOMO (fear of missing out), and drain liquidity once the post gains traction.
Watcher Guru Promises Updates and Reinforced Security
At the time of writing, Watcher Guru has not yet identified the full scope or method behind the breach but has pledged to strengthen its defenses and keep followers informed.
“We are contacting X for further clarification and will provide an update when we have more details,” the team stated.
The incident serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing cybersecurity risks faced by crypto-focused organizations, even those that have implemented enhanced security measures like 2FA.
