Scammers exploit Clippy nostalgia in cryptocurrency fraud

Scammers recently exploited nostalgia for Clippy, Microsoft’s iconic but short-lived virtual assistant from the 1990s, to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. The fraudsters created a fake Clippy account on X, titled ClippyMSFTCo, which advertised a memecoin and asked Microsoft, “How many likes to bring Clippy back?”

The scam escalated when the attackers hacked Microsoft’s official X account, which boasts 13 million followers, and retweeted the promotional post. To make matters worse, the hackers posted a fake apology on Microsoft’s account, claiming awareness of the cryptocurrency scam involving unauthorized use of the Clippy brand and Microsoft’s intellectual property.

Microsoft later regained control of its account, deleted the fraudulent posts, and X removed the ClippyMSFTCo account responsible for the scam. The incident highlights the risks of social media impersonation and the exploitation of nostalgic branding for financial fraud.