The official website for the Pepe memecoin has been compromised, leading users to be redirected to a malicious link.

“Blockaid’s system has identified a front-end attack on Pepe. The site contains a code of inferno drainer,” said the cybersecurity firm Blockaid on Thursday. Blockaid’s Threat Intelligence Team stated:

“Blockaid detected Inferno drainer code on the Pepe front end, matching a known drainer family we regularly identify. This is a front-end compromise, where users are redirected to a fake site that injects malicious code to drain wallets.”

Source: Blockaid

Inferno Drainer is a suite of scam tools used by threat actors, alongside phishing templates, wallet drainers, and social engineering tools.

Despite the hack, the PEPE price saw a 4% increase over the last 24 hours but has dropped by over 77% in the past year, according to CoinGecko.

Cointelegraph attempted to contact the Pepe team, but no response was received by the time of publication.

This incident underscores the importance of cybersecurity vigilance for crypto users as a defense against phishing scams and other threats. Users should avoid the site until the issue is resolved.

Rising Activities of Inferno Drainer

Inferno Drainer’s usage reportedly tripled in 2024, according to Blockaid, despite earlier claims from the team behind it that they would terminate the scam service in 2023.

At the year’s start, around 800 new malicious Inferno Drainer DApps were reported weekly; this figure has since surged to 2,400.

The group behind Inferno Drainer has been linked to numerous social engineering scams and malware-related crypto thefts, including a recent hack involving connecting wallets to malicious links.

Source: Changpeng Zhao

It is vital for users to be cautious and stay informed regarding these security threats.