Hackers reportedly steal millions after targeting Polymarket users
Hackers have stolen funds from an undisclosed number of Polymarket users, the prediction market company disclosed Thursday.
In a statement on X, Polymarket said the hackers were able to target victims by injecting a malicious script into its website following the compromise of a third-party vendor.
Polymarket said that it has fixed the issue and is in the process of contacting affected users and refunding their losses in full.
While the company has not provided further details, PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, said that a phishing campaign against Polymarket users had resulted in the loss of $3 million in cryptocurrency.
Another blockchain analyst on X reported similar findings and said that there appeared to be at least 11 victims in total.
“It appears there may be a phishing attack targeting Polymarket users, with estimated losses of $2.94M so far,” the analyst said.
No losses
William LeGate, Polymarket’s growth lead, responded to the post to confirm users would be reimbursed, but did not comment on the purported victim total.
“We are refunding affected users in whole, there are no user ‘losses,’” he wrote.
So far, two people have claimed to be potential victims, TechCrunch reported. One of the alleged targets, an X user named Qi Hu, said he lost half a million dollars.
“Just got hacked for 500k on @Polymarket across two accounts,” he wrote. “Positions sold, and withdrawn to an external wallet.”
The hack is the latest issue to face the prediction market giant, which was the subject of an investigation by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that found the company had produced deceptive marketing material.
Polymarket reportedly paid online creators to share videos on social media in which they claimed to have won hundreds of thousands of dollars. In reality, the bets weren’t real, and the videos used a fake version of Polymarket’s website, created by the company itself, to appear legitimate.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
