Man Utd Football Club Hacked Overnight, Warns Fans of Rogue $REDDEVILS Token Scam

While its attack on the pitch has come under fire given a recent lack of goals, it seems that the hackers who targeted Manchester United's Facebook and Instagram

Manchester United’s Facebook and Instagram sites were targeted by hackers on Friday night, with fans being warned by the club not to engage with any suspicious activity relating to fan tokens.

The club’s official Instagram and Facebook pages were hit by scam posts promoting a crypto ‘fan token’, with fans being urged to buy the $REDDEVILS token in exchange for perks including ‘exclusive, limited-edition merchandise’ and ‘VIP fan experiences’.

One post on United’s official Facebook page at 19:38 GMT encouraged supporters to buy a fan token.

A post on Man Utd's official Facebook page at 19:38 GMT encouraged fans to buy a fan token. (Photo: Facebook)

But fans were being warned not to engage with the posts, with the club later confirming that their pages had been hacked.

‘Please do not engage with any suspicious activity relating to fan tokens,’ a statement from the club read.

‘We are working to rectify the issue and will communicate once complete.’

As reported by The Metro, the club’s Instagram page was also hit by the scam posts with fans being encouraged to buy the crypto fan tokens.

‘Fans who purchased the token were promised perks including “exclusive, limited-edition merchandise” and “VIP fan experiences”,’ The Metro report.

‘The post was later deleted, but Metro.co.uk was still able to view the Facebook post late on Friday evening.’

One Redditor also posted a warning in the Manchester United Discord server, alerting fans to the scam posts.

‘Received this on Manchester United Discord server,’ the post read.

‘For anyone following United on Meta platforms, please be aware. It seems their account has been hacked and has been used to scam people.’

This isn’t the first time Manchester United have been targeted by a cyberattack, with the club helped out of a more serious fix by the UK’s NCSC back in 2020.

‘Extensive protocols and procedures" and our cyber defences identified the attack and shut down affected systems to contain the damage and protect data,’ the statement added at the time.

‘We are not currently aware of any breach of personal data associated with our fans and customers.

‘All critical systems required for matches to take place at Old Trafford remain secure and operational.’

But speculation on social media suggests this was likely a more basic lack of multifactor authentication and other basic security housekeeping on its social sites than anything more sophisticated.

Such attacks on social media are all too common. But we await confirmation.

It’s a timely reminder for everyone and every company – big or small – to make sure they have done the same.

2FA at a minimum, authenticator apps rather than SMS, and use passkeys if you can.

I have approached Manchester United for any comment, but they are likely busy preparing for tomorrow’s local derby against Manchester City.

Their rivals are in the midst of their worst run of form under manager Pep Guardiola, having lost seven of the last ten games.

The latest being a loss to Italian side Juventus mid-week.

United fans will be hoping to make it an astonishing eight defeats out of eleven.

There has been a noticeable improvement in playing form under new manager Ruben Amorim and a marked increase in excitement amongst the fans.

Hopefully this won’t have been tempered by too many falling victim to the overnight scam.