IOTA has issued an urgent warning to its community. The warning comes as bad actors attempt to leverage current opportunities presented by IOTA and its staging network, Shimmer, with the intent of duping unsuspecting individuals.
Shimmer recently launched a $1 million liquidity airdrop, much to the delight of the IOTA community. However, it seems that malicious actors are attempting to leverage the airdrop opportunity to trick naive users into sending funds or revealing personal information.
In a new tweet, IOTA says it has come to its attention that some users are receiving airdrops displaying URLs to scam websites. IOTA urges users to be careful when following such links and never to share their private keys or mnemonics to their wallets with anyone.
🚨 Attention! 🚨 We learned that some users are receiving airdrops displaying URLs to scam websites. We urge you to be careful when following such links and never to share your private keys/mnemonic to your wallet with anyone! ** Please note that there is no official web…
— IOTA (@iota) February 9, 2024
Users should also be aware that the IOTA Foundation does not have an official web wallet or online wallet. Thus, anyone claiming otherwise might be a scammer who intends to steal funds.
The recent warning from IOTA follows a similar one made by Shimmer on Feb. 5, which alerted users to be wary of scammers.
Shimmer reiterated that there is only one Shimmer EVM airdrop campaign happening and that users should only follow the official links and sources for the campaign. Shimmer went ahead to provide an official blog post that provided details and instructions for the airdrop campaign.
In light of these warnings, the IOTA community should avoid clicking on suspicious links and refrain from communications or requests from scammers. Before approving any transaction, users should verify the addresses and sources and utilize a wallet that is safe and compatible with the ShimmerEVM network.