Crypto scammers hijack Microsoft’s official X account to push a fake Clippy token

For approximately 30 minutes on Thursday, October 2, 2026, Microsoft’s official X account was not really Microsoft’s. Unknown attackers took over @Microsoft, which has over 13 million followers, and used it to promote a fraudulent crypto token called $Clippy. How the $Clippy hijack played out The attackers did more than post a link. They changed the account’s profile picture, a small cosmetic edit that helps a scam look like an official rebrand. They also had the hijacked account interact with an impersonator account. That account claimed a connection to Clippy, the nostalgic virtual assistant character tied to Microsoft, and has since been suspended. Microsoft regained control within approximately 30 minutes. The company confirmed the access was unauthorized, removed the misleading posts, secured the account, and said it was investigating the incident. A Microsoft spokesperson also issued a blunt denial covering the token, the character, and even the company’s stock ticker: “Microsoft has not authorized, sponsored, endorsed, or granted permission for the creation, promotion, or use of any cryptocurrency token associated with Clippy, Microsoft, or $MSFT.” There was no immediate imp...