LEGO removes crypto scam from homepage after being hacked: Report

Toy manufacturer LEGO Group has reportedly removed a “LEGO Coin” token scam that briefly appeared on its homepage after being hacked on Oct. 5, reports state.

X user and LEGO enthusiast “ZTBricks” was among the first to spot the scam, which promised “secret rewards” to those who bought LEGO Coin, several screenshots on X show:

“Our new LEGO Coin is officially out! Buy the LEGO Coin today and unlock secret rewards!”

Those who clicked the “Buy Now” button beneath the message were reportedly taken to the phishing site.

LEGO hasn’t publicly commented on the incident — however, the LEGO Coin message and the “Buy Now” link no longer exist on its homepage.

Fake promotion of the “LEGO Coin” token before it was taken down. Source: The Brick Fan

LEGO reportedly told consumer tech product platform Engadget that the cryptocurrency scam only “briefly” appeared on its homepage and that no user accounts were compromised:

“The issue has been resolved. 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.”

LEGO COIN first appeared on LEGO’s homepage at 1:00am UTC on Oct. 5 and was removed approximately 75 minutes later, according to “mescad,” a moderator of the “lego” subreddit.

The incident occurred at 3am in Billund, Denmark, where LEGO’s main office is based.

Source: ZTBricks

Cointelegraph reached out to LEGO but didn’t receive an immediate response.

Related: Vietnam police bust crypto scam ring linked to offshore actors

In March 2021, the toy manufacturer’s X account hinted it may have been moving into the nonfungible token space when it hashtagged “#NFT” in a 14-second clip of a 3D LEGO brick rotating in space. However, the post was removed soon after.

LEGO Group’s holding company KIRKBI did, however, invest $1 billion in video game publisher Epic Games to accelerate its Metaverse plans in April 2022.

Cryptocurrency scamers stole $127 million from victims in Q3 2024, including $46 million in September, blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer reported.