Recently, several crypto hackers have been targeting top celebrity accounts on X to promote some scam tokens, increasing prices.
A spate of hacks over the weekend compromised several prominent X accounts associated with crypto influencers and personalities. This compromised data facilitated the dissemination of counterfeit tokens and caused transient yet significant increases in price.
The hackers targeted celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner and influential members of the cryptocurrency community, including GCR. A stratagem involving the promotion and duplication of meme tokens was initiated.
May 26 saw the compromise of the prominent cryptocurrency influencer GCR account, which was among the most significant targets. The assailant published promotional material for ORDI and Luna2.0 tokens using the compromised account.
“Ignore all content emanating from my channels,” GCR advised in a separate account post. Observers of the market noted that the hacker selected ORDI, a token with a market capitalization of $856 million and a relatively stable reputation, instead of a microcap coin, which could have generated greater profits.
The DeFi platform Near Protocol X account was also compromised in early May. Additionally, in April, the official account of renowned British actor Tom Holland, who portrayed Spider-Man, was compromised.
Udi Wertheimer, a proponent of Ordinals and a developer of Bitcoin, cautioned that the GCR incident could indicate a larger scheme targeting celebrity X accounts. Media personality Caitlyn Jenner and mumble rapper Rich the Kid were two additional notable victims.
“With the introduction of meme coins by an increasing number of niche celebrities every minute, during extended weekends when platform engineers are absent, I urge you all to exercise extreme caution,” Wertheimer advised.
The perpetrators of these breaches continue to operate clandestinely, and the digital asset industry must maintain a vigilant stance regarding the activities of influential individuals and personalities they hold in high regard.
Intruders Acquire Authority Over Celebrity X Accounts
The Rich The Kid account was utilized to promote the Solana meme coin creation platform pump, a new token called RICH.fun.
Based on dex screener data, despite the prompt removal of the promotional post and the absence of official confirmation from Rich the Kid’s management, the token’s market capitalization has remained unchanged at $76,000.
According to aggregated data from Raydium and GeckoTerminal, Caitlyn Jenner’s account was similarly compromised to promote a meme coin called $JENNER, which increased the coin’s market capitalization to $22 million.
In mid-May, the official X account of Activision Blizzard, a gaming behemoth renowned for its Diablo and Call of Duty franchises, was also compromised.
The intruder fraudulently presented the promotion of an unaffiliated meme coin on Solana as an official token launch using the account. The deleted X post featured an image of the Activision-owned character Crash Bandicoot and purported to sell the ATVI token developed in partnership with Solana Labs.
According to dex screener data, the token has negligible liquidity, and it is evident that it has no affiliation with Activision or its titles. Such occurrences have become prevalent in the crypto space.
“I appreciate your patience.” The restored authority has been granted to the @ATVI_AB account. “We intend to investigate what transpired to prevent future occurrences of this nature,” the official Activision Blizzard account replied. “We take security very seriously.”