LEGO coin scam: company recovers after website hijack

Shoppers have noticed banners on the LEGO online shop promoting LEGO tokens. It’s yet another crypto scam.

Late in the evening of October 4th, LEGO fans on Reddit began noticing that the official LEGO shop was promoting a newly released LEGO coin. Suspicions were immediately aroused that scammers were targeting the Danish company.

These types of scams usually redirect users to malicious websites designed to steal their funds.

An ad was placed on a banner on the main page and urged visitors to buy to "unlock secret rewards." A link was leading to an external marketplace where tokens can be purchased using the ETH cryptocurrency.

Engadget shared the company’s statement, which acknowledged that on October 5th, or the evening of October 4th in the US, an “unauthorized banner briefly appeared on LEGO.com.”

The company ensured that the banner was quickly removed. “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," a company spokesperson said.

The hijacking of well-known brands’ online accounts to promote crypto scams has increased lately. Just two weeks ago, OpenAI’s account on X was compromised to promote a ‘new cryptocurrency,’ directing viewers to a malicious link.

The OpenAINewsroom account wrote, "We're very happy to announce $OPEANAI [sic], the token bridging the gap between AI and blockchain technology." The post was later deleted. It was the fourth time an OpenAI-affiliated X account had been hacked to promote fake OpenAI tokens.

OpenAI researcher Jason Wei's X account was hacked on September 22nd, following similar incidents involving OpenAI's Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki in June 2024 and Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati in June 2023.