Pepe

PEPE

The official website for the Pepe (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/pepe-price-index" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PEPE</a>) memecoin has been compromised by attackers, who are redirecting users to a malicious link. “Blockaid’s system has identified a front-end attack on Pepe. The site contains a code of inferno drainer,” the cybersecurity company<a href="https://x.com/blockaid_/status/1996585952500752886" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> said</a> on Thursday. Blockaid’s Threat Intelligence Team told Cointelegraph:
<blockquote>
 "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.”
</blockquote>
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 <img alt="Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Memecoin, Pepe" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-12/019ae9cc-cbdc-7a9c-bb0b-45eb9b9cc131" title="">
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 Source: <a href="https://x.com/blockaid_/status/1996586483394777088" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Blockaid</a>
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Inferno Drainer is a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cypto-drainers-pink-pussy-venom-and-inferno-steal-millions" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">suite of scam tools</a> that is employed by threat actors, including phishing website templates, wallet drainers and social engineering tools.
The price of PEPE did not react immediately to the hack. The memecoin is up by about 4% over the last 24 hours, but is down by more than 77% over the last 12 months, according to CoinGecko.
Cointelegraph reached out to the Pepe team for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
This latest cybersecurity incident highlights the ongoing need for vigilance among crypto users as a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/phishing-scams-cost-users-12m-august-stay-safe" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">defense against phishing scams</a> and other cybersecurity threats. Users are encouraged to stay clear of the site until the issue is resolved.&nbsp;
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/memecoins-nfts-hit-lowest-2025-crypto-market-selloff" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Memecoin market sinks to 2025 low as $5B wiped out in a day</a>
<h2 id="inferno-drainer-activity-ramps-up-despite-claims-that-the-malware-would-go-offline">Inferno Drainer activity ramps up despite claims that the malware would go offline</h2>
Inferno Drainer <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/inferno-drainer-dapp-surge-crypto-scam-trends" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">usage tripled in 2024</a>, according to Blockaid, despite the team behind Inferno Drainer claiming that they would <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/inferno-drainer-shut-down-after-stealing-millions-crypto-wallet-scam-kit" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">shutter the scam service</a> in 2023.
“At the beginning of the year, we saw about 800 new malicious Inferno Drainer DApps per week. Now, that number has tripled to 2,400 per week,” Oz Tamir, a former Blockaid engineer, told Cointelegraph in August 2024.
Since that time, the Inferno Drainer group and suite of tools have been <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-drainers-investigators-hacks-defi" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">linked to several social engineering scams</a>, social media exploits and malware-related crypto thefts, including the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bnb-chain-x-account-hacked-inferno-links" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">hack of the BNB X page</a> in October.
<figure>
 <img alt="Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Memecoin, Pepe" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-12/019aea3f-c952-7105-94bf-ffddfee0b77e" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a href="https://x.com/cz_binance/status/1973244626531192968" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Changpeng “CZ” Zhao</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
The attackers took control of the X account and posted several malicious links, which directed users to connect their wallets.&nbsp;
Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao sounded the <a href="https://x.com/cz_binance/status/1973244626531192968" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">alarm</a> on the hack and directed users not to interact with the links until the issue was resolved.&nbsp;
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/pythia-finance-drained-53k-crypto-sec/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">2 auditors miss $27M Penpie flaw, Pythia’s ‘claim rewards’ bug: Crypto-Sec</a>

Pepe memecoin website exploited, redirecting users to malware: Blockaid

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