An official OpenAI X account was taken over to peddle a crypto scam

An official OpenAI account on X was taken over to peddle a cryptocurrency scam on Monday evening.

On Monday at 6:24PM ET, the @OpenAINewsroom account, which shares news from OpenAI and has nearly 54,000 followers, made a now-deleted post advertising an “$OPENAI” token.

“We’re very happy to announce $OPEANAI: the token bridging the gap between Al and blockchain technology,” the post said. “All OpenAI users are eligible to claim a piece of $OPENAI’s initial supply. Holding $OPENAI will grant access to all of our future beta programs.” The post also included a link to a spoofed version of OpenAI’s website at a URL that wasn’t openai.com.

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

When I visited the site, there was a section for claiming the $OPENAI cryptocurrency. When I clicked the button, it asked me to connect a wallet, which I didn’t do.

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

OpenAI and X didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. As of this writing, the OpenAI Newsroom account hasn’t posted anything to explain what might have happened. The account launched at the beginning of this month.