Upbit Successfully Stops the Influx of Fake APT Tokens and Quickly Restores Services to Users
Upbit, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange, has reinstated Aptos APT deposits and withdrawals following the resolution of an incident in which a counterfeit APT token was mistakenly identified as a genuine item. After detecting an “abnormal deposit attempt,” Upbit unexpectedly discontinued Aptos token services on September 24, sparking an assessment of the wallet system.
The issue appears to have been caused by a freshly minted bogus APT token called “ClaimAPTGift.com,” which had made its way into 400,000 Aptos wallets after its formation on September 21. The bogus token was most likely part of a common token airdrop scam, in which consumers are airdropped tokens with links that direct naïve users to phishing websites. However, due to Upbit’s stated failure to adequately verify the source code of the scam tokens, the exchange recognized the phony tokens as genuine Aptos tokens. According to X user Definalist, several Korean users reported receiving APT without sending any themselves.
This allegedly allowed users who sold fraudulent APT tokens to walk away with money. According to reports, Upbit’s customer service has begun to request refunds from individuals who sold the bogus APT tokens. The problem has since been resolved. Upbit reported on September 24 at 11:00 p.m. local time that it had resumed deposits and withdrawals after finishing the wallet inspection.
“The action against the abnormal deposit attempt has been completed, and there is no problem with your Aptos transaction,” it stated in a statement. However, it noted that there could be delays in processing deposits and withdrawals, as well as occasional price variations in APT tokens in comparison to other exchanges. APT has been trading around $5.31 during the last 24 hours; however, according to CoinGecko, the price of APT on Upbit is about $5.56.
