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- 1 A scammer announced a fake airdrop of $10 million from Uniswap.
- 2 The news was outsourced through a press release article shared with a few famous crypto news houses.
- 3 The malicious activity was known when addresses were compared.
A smart social engineering scheme deceived several well-known cryptocurrency news sites into advertising a fictitious $10 million Uniswap airdrop on February 16. It came out as an automated market maker (AMM) blockchain protocol announced its timeline for its latest V4 platform.
Fake Uniswap Airdrop Got Promoted by Major Crypto News Platforms
The scammer sent a press release document to various reputable crypto news outlets. The document stated that Uniswap blockchain was launching a $10 million airdrop through its social media campaign.
The scammer shared the press release document with a one-time view option to protect himself. The purpose of sharing the press release document was to celebrate and observe the launch of Uniswap’s V4 platform.
Moreover, the cybercriminals have seamlessly coordinated with the subsequent announcement of the protocol’s update. The scammer also tried to prove the event’s credibility; they used an unidentified perpetrator to be presented as a representative of the Uniswap Foundation.
How did Crypto news channels get trapped?
A news platform has shared insights on the event and said that the scammer referenced a conversation with the VP of Communication for the Uniswap project on the highlighted $10 million airdrop launch.
The investigation found that the press release document had embedded tracking links. However, it was found on clicking those links that the links led to suspicious URL pages redirecting to a fake Uniswap website.
Some top crypto news platforms that have believed the news to be genuine include DailyCoin, CryptoNews, and others.
The publisher or sender addresses were also forged to those of Hyden Adams, founder of Uniswap.
On February 14, he reported through his X account that a scammer had targeted his wallet address. He mentioned that the scammer copied his address and added the .eth tag to create an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) address.
The Launch of Uniswap V4
The UniswapV4 is all set to be launched in Q3 2024, as announced in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The Uniswap Foundation shared a post sharing the tentative date for the V4 launch in the third quarter of 2024. It will be followed by the expected mainnet launch of Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, scheduled for March 2024.
The Dencun upgrade is a part of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that feature the widespread anticipation of EIP-4844 called Proto-Danksharding.
In addition, the Uniswap Foundation team has shared the outline of the roadmap for the V4 launch. The process will start with extensive core code completion, testing, gas optimizations, security enhancements, and finalizing the periphery.
The second phase of the launch will observe the V4 comprehensive audit by several blockchain firms and the community audit.
After successful trials and final adjustments, the V4 will also be launched on the mainnet. The final phase will observe the platform launch on the Ethereum mainnet.
The Uniswap team did not mention anything about the $10 million airdrop campaign in the tweet. However, the scammer also mentioned that the airdrop would be executed on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Conclusion
The fraudulent activity involving multiple news outlets has recorded no financial loss. Crypto investors are advised to be cautious and only trust official channels to get up-to-date information.
The previous airdrop activities executed by the decentralized trading platform often rewarded users with a successful trading history on the platform.
Steve Anderson is an Australian crypto enthusiast. He is a specialist in management and trading for over 5 years. Steve has worked as a crypto trader, he loves learning about decentralisation, understanding the true potential of the blockchain.
