Pokemon fans should be aware that the official social media account for the games on Twitter was recently hacked and promoted a scam. Unfortunately, this is just the latest scam targeting gamers, though Pokemon Twitter accounts have remained relatively unscathed in recent years.
One of the last times that a Pokemon-related Twitter account was hacked was way back in 2016, when hackers took over the account of the Niantic CEO. While still unacceptable, that hack thankfully only took the opportunity to complain about Pokemon GO‘s rollout to areas around the world, and didn’t peddle a scam, like this recent incident.
On the evening of August 27, the official Pokemon Twitter account suddenly sent out a message to fans that was designed to look legitimate, but was actually being posted by a hacker. The post claimed that a new way of celebrating Pokemon‘s 30th anniversary was being introduced, and then proceeded to introduce a Pokemon memecoin. The Tweet alleged that it was the “official” Pokemon memecoin, provided a token address to acquire it, and then added a link to the official Pokemon website, likely to make the tweet look as authentic as possible. However, Pokemon subsequently sent out a follow-up tweet, indicating that the account had been hacked and out of the company’s control for about 30 minutes, and apologized for the spam. The offending tweet and apology have both now been deleted. Fans should be aware that, despite the claim that it’s official, the memecoin has no connection to Pokemon or Nintendo.
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While such a message going out from an official Pokemon social media account would likely gain a lot of attention at any time, the fact that it happened when it did probably isn’t a coincidence. August 28 marks the first day of the Pokemon World Championships in San Francisco, which will run through August 30. With fans eagerly tuning in to see who emerges as victors and many Pokemon fanatics descending upon the city for the event, it’s likely that more users than average may have seen the hacker’s message. With any luck, next to no one actually purchased the memecoin due to the message.
The hacked Twitter account may have led to some lost cash for anyone who believed it was legitimate and bought the memecoin, but thankfully, shouldn’t have too devastating an impact. The same can’t be said for some prior hacks that have targeted Nintendo and its affiliates, though. Over the years, hackers have targeted everything from Nintendo Network accounts to the company’s data itself, with the hackers sometimes demanding ransoms to refrain from releasing the stolen information. One of the most notorious cases was the Pokemon Teraleak, which transpired after a cyberattack targeted developer Game Freak.
Gamers are advised to remain vigilant, even when messages are sent from official accounts. Thankfully, in this case, no malicious links were shared that could harm a user’s computer or steal their personal information. While this is unlikely to happen again anytime soon, if in doubt, any legitimate announcements made from Pokemon will likely appear across numerous social media channels and its official websites.