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

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

On Monday at 6:24 p.m. ET, the @OpenAINewsroom account, which shares OpenAI news and has nearly 54,000 followers, published a now-deleted post promoting a “$OPENAI” token.

“We are very excited to announce $OPANAI: the token that bridges the gap between AI and blockchain technology,” the post said. “All OpenAI users are entitled to a portion of $OPENAI's initial supply. Those who own $OPENAI will gain access to all of our future beta programs.” The post also included a link to a fake version of the OpenAI website at a URL that was not openai.com.

When I visited the site, there was a section to claim the $OPENAI cryptocurrency. When I clicked the button, it asked me to connect a wallet, which I did not do.

OpenAI and X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At the time of this writing, the OpenAI Newsroom account has not posted anything that would explain what might have happened. The account was opened earlier this month.