Benzinga - The X (formerly Twitter) account of American rapper Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., has reportedly fallen into the hands of cyber miscreants.
The perpetrators are reportedly misusing the platform to lure unsuspecting individuals into a phishing scam, as confirmed by online blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
Going by the handle @NellioETH, the compromised account has been sending out messages to followers, encouraging them to visit a deceptive website.
The objective behind this malicious act appears to be phishing - a fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information by disguising it as a trustworthy entity.
The mischief didn't go unnoticed for long as the online community rallied to unveil the deceit.
Notably, a confirmation from a cybersecurity platform known as Scam Sniffer substantiated ZachXBT's findings.
They alerted the public through a post, cautioning about the compromised account and urging individuals to remain vigilant while navigating online platforms.
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In their statement, Scam Sniffer mentioned, "@NellioETH is compromised and pretending to be a member of ScamSniffer. They are trying to message people in an attempt to socially engineer them into using a phishing site." Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., known by his stage moniker Nelly, has a decorated musical journey with eight studio albums to his name.
His career has been embellished with numerous awards including three Grammy Awards and nine Billboard Music Awards.
The hijacking of such a high-profile account underscores the relentless attempts by cyber adversaries to exploit public figures' online platforms for nefarious agendas.
As of now, there has been no official statement from Nelly or his representatives regarding the cyber intrusion.
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