Washington Capitals alternate captain T.J. Oshie's X account was likely hacked on Sunday, promoting a new cryptocurrency scam. A couple of tweets were posted from Oshie's account advertising a new crypto token called "$OSHIE" and linking to a website called "pump.fun."
One tweet read:
"$OSHIE launched just on pump.fun".
Another said:
"GREAT AMERICA LIKELY HERO $OSHIE," alongside a funny picture of Oshie.
It appears these tweets were promoting a pump-and-dump crypto scam, trying to capitalize on Oshie's name and likeness without his permission.
Pump and dump schemes encourage investors to buy into a new token, driving up the price, so the creators can then quickly sell off their holdings before the price crashes. The tweets from Oshie's account were likely posted by hackers who gained access to it.
Within minutes of the suspicious tweets being posted, T.J. Oshie's account was recovered by his team, and the scam tweets were deleted. High-profile accounts like Oshie's are frequent targets of hackers looking to spread crypto scams and other malicious content.
T.J. Oshie is optimistic about playing next season
T.J. Oshie remains hopeful about playing next season despite back problems, which have plagued him for years. The 37-year-old veteran winger mentioned in the season-end media availability that he is working with professionals to address his issues before deciding on his return for another NHL season, marking his 17th in the league.
"I’d love to play next year, but I will need to come back with somewhat of a guarantee that my back won’t be — it’s hard putting everyone through the situation," T.J. Oshie said. "I’d like to find just an answer and a fix to the problem before I make another run at it.”
Oshie's back injuries limited him to just 52 regular season games this year. He was also hampered by other injuries, including playing Game 4 against the Rangers with a broken hand.
"A broken hand is like a hangnail compared to what I go through with my back," TJ Oshie said. "There’s been a lot of just extra things that I have to do to make sure that my back is ready to play an NHL game."
The Capitals got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the New York Rangers in four games. It marked the end of Washington's season with a 40-31-11 record during the regular season, amounting to 91 points.