The upcoming “ARB” token release of Ethereum’s layer 2 scaling solution Arbitrum appears to have become a popular target for scammersso the community has gone on to warn of hundreds of phishing scams aimed at tricking crypto users.
Announced in a March 16 post by the Arbitrum Foundation, the launch will send out 10 billion governance tokens, allowing holders to vote on code changes. The release is scheduled for March 23.
Unfortunately, this event has led to numerous attempts by scammers to stage fake token drops with the aim of stealing funds from victims before the official event.
In a post on March 19, blockchain security firm Redefine said that it had found a website posing as an official Arbitrum launch website. The screenshots show the website asking the user to allow access to their funds, which would presumably result in the scammers emptying their wallet.
CertiK, another blockchain security firm, flagged a fake Arbitrum Twitter account – “arbitrum_launch” – announcing a token launch. It has warned users not to interact with it.
Be aware of a fake @arbitrum Twitter account which is advertising a token Airdrop.
Do not interact with this Airdrop.
Always verify Twitter accounts and URLs from trusted sources.
Stay vigilant! pic.twitter.com/gTlSNRzd6l
— CertiKAlert (@CertiKAlert) March 19, 2023
#CertiKSkynetAlert. Beware of a fake @arbitrum Twitter account announcing a token launch. Do not interact with this Airdrop. Always check Twitter accounts and URLs from trusted sources. Keep alert!
For his part, Reddit user u/CryptoMaximalist posted a thread on March 19, warning that “scammers hope to make money off the complexity of cryptocurrency and users excited about free money.”
According to u/CryptoMaximalist, found fake Arbitrum profiles on Twitter with links to fake Arbitrum websites, so they advise everyone to check a user’s profile and history, and check if they are spamming through many subreddits before clicking on the shared links.
Last week, the anti-scam tool Web3’s Scam Sniffer informed his Twitter followers that he had already detected More than 273 Arbitrum-related phishing sites since the token airdrop was announced, with the number expected to rise before the official launch on March 23.
gm, $ARB airdrop holders! ☀️
We found a lot of scam accounts calling you to claim airdrop! Don’t trust!
Only legal website: https://t.co/zjxfLBnn9I
The following 6 accounts are official @arbitrum@arbitrum_cn@arbitrumcore@ArbitrumDevs@arbitrum_intern@OffchainLabs… https://t.co/F0ADoE6Lwd pic.twitter.com/0nEqEsnH8k
– ANDAO (,) (@ArbitrumNewsDAO) March 19, 2023
Gm, holders of the $ARB release! ☀️ We’ve found a bunch of scam accounts calling them to claim a release! Don’t trust The only legal website is: https://t.co/zjxfLBnn9I The following 6 accounts are official @arbitrum @arbitrum_cn @arbitrumcore @ArbitrumDevs @arbitrum_intern @OffchainLabs…
According to the Arbitrum Foundation, a points system was used to determine who could claim tokens at launch and how many they could claim.
Eligible actions were making more than four transactions or interacting with at least four smart contracts, transferring funds to the Arbitrum One chain, and depositing more than $50,000 of liquidity into Arbitrum.
The blockchain analytics company Nansen, what helped to develop the criteria with Arbitrum, revealed that of the more than 2.3 million wallets bridged on the Arbitrum One chain before February 6, only 625,143 are eligible to launch.
“Organic activity earned positive (behaviors to encourage) or negative (behaviors to discourage) points. The number of tokens a wallet would receive at launch depended on the number of points it collected,” explained nansen in a tweet on March 16.
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