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A group of crypto scammers failed to rake in a substantial sum even after infiltrating multiple high-profile accounts on the social media platform X, including computer brand Lenovo’s India division, film director Oliver Stone, Yahoo News UK, and Brazilian soccer player Neymar Jr.
After hijacking the accounts of brands and celebrities, the scammers acted honestly: They admitted that the account was hacked and promoted a token with the ticker HACKED.
However, their supposed transparency ultimately failed to yield significant profits.
Blockchain analyst “ZachXBT” first sounded the alarm, revealing that numerous “large accounts on X” had been compromised, all promoting a Solana-based memecoin called HACKED.
Other infiltrated accounts included MoneyControl, People Magazine, and the decentralized finance platform Krystal DeFi.
Hackers’ Unusual Tactic Fails
In the recent hacking attempt, rather than concealing their actions, the hackers openly acknowledged that the accounts were compromised, attempting to use this revelation as a selling point for the HACKED token.
“INTRODUCING $HACKED ON SOLANA,” they wrote. “On each account we hack we publish the token address so we pump it and make profits together.”
However, the strategy did not go as planned. According to ZachXBT, the scammers likely spent more on executing the hack than they managed to earn.
“The top traders have barely made $1,000, and the market cap was $67,000,” he reported, estimating that the hackers only netted around $8,000 before removing liquidity for the token.
Update: They removed liq for the meme coin and only made $8K off the scam
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— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 18, 2024
The HACKED token briefly surged by 900% within an hour of the hack but quickly plummeted. Its market capitalization now stands at just $4,000, with several other tokens bearing the same name appearing on Solana decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
In another tweet, the on-chain sleuth said the hackers “probably spent 5-6 figures on the method so lost money lmao.” He called the attempt the “most incompetent hacker of the year.”
Breached Accounts Granted Permission to Malicious Site
ZachXBT suggested that the compromised accounts might have granted permissions to the same malicious site or application, leading to the breach. He urged X users to regularly review and revoke access for apps they no longer use to prevent similar incidents.
This is not the first time scammers have targeted X accounts to promote questionable tokens. In May, a wave of hacks hit crypto influencers and celebrities, creating the illusion that they were endorsing various memecoins.
High-profile figures and entities such as MicroStrategy, Algorand, Rocket Pool, Compound Finance, Ava Labs, and even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin have had their X accounts hacked over the past year.
Scam tokens and memecoins have increasingly found a home on low-fee, high-throughput blockchains like Solana and Base, making them attractive targets for scammers looking to exploit unsuspecting users.
Crypto Fraud Losses Surge to $5.6B
In 2023, cryptocurrency fraud losses surged to a staggering $5.6 billion, according to a recent report by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The data, based on over 69,000 complaints received by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), marks a 45% increase in losses compared to the previous year.
A concerning trend revealed by the report is the targeting of senior citizens, who are often less familiar with digital assets and more vulnerable to sophisticated scams.
One of the major threats identified is trust-based cryptocurrency fraud, where scammers establish personal relationships with victims through social media platforms before defrauding them of their investments.
Other prevalent scams include liquidity mining frauds and fake Play-to-Earn games, which entice victims with promises of high returns, only to leave them with significant financial losses.
The report further revealed that investment fraud, particularly trust-based scams, accounted for about 71% of total losses. Additionally, cryptocurrency kiosks have emerged as a significant avenue for fraud, with over 5,500 complaints and losses surpassing $189 million.
The Bottom Line
It turns out that when hackers try to play the honesty card, it doesn’t pay off. In the recent incident, the unusual tactic of admitting to the hack while promoting their own token backfired, leaving hackers with minimal profits and a failed scam attempt.
