UpBit’s APT Token Frozen After System Glitch Credits Scam Token as Valid

UpBit is the largest crypto exchange in South Korea

UpBit, South Korea’s leading crypto exchange, has temporarily frozen deposits and withdrawals of its native token, Aptos (APT), after a system glitch mistakenly recognized a scam token as valid APT. The scam token was part of a phishing scheme that targeted nearly 400,000 APT holders, according to blockchain data.

The scam token was distributed through an airdrop to APT wallets, along with a link to a fake website, ClaimAPTGift.com, that claimed to offer free APT tokens. However, the website was actually designed to steal users’ private keys and funds. Some users reported that UpBit’s system erroneously accepted the scam token as APT and credited their accounts accordingly. UpBit confirmed in a statement that it detected abnormal deposit attempts and suspended deposits and withdrawals of APT to fix the error.

The statement was first shared by X account Definalist, a crypto news outlet. The technical issue caused a price surge of over 37% for APT on ByBit, another crypto exchange, before it crashed back down within three hours. APT is the most traded pair on UpBit in the last 24 hours, according to CoinCarp, a crypto market data provider.