Breaking Bad star Dean Norris’ X account was hacked to promote a fraudulent memecoin, DEAN, using his likeness.
The coin briefly spiked in value before collapsing by over 96%, with Norris denying any involvement and calling the scheme a scam.
TV star Dean Norris, famous for his role as Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad, announced that his X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked to push a fake memecoin called “DEAN.” In a video from January 26, Norris described the token as a “total fake scam” and criticized Reddit users who accused him of being involved in it. “Go f*** yourselves,” he said in answer to the backlash.
The hackers’ deleted posts had a fake picture of Norris holding a sign with the coin’s name and launch date. They shared a video of him supposedly supporting the project, but some Reddit users think it might be made by AI or a paid Cameo video used in a dishonest way.
Data from DexScreener showed that DEAN’s market cap reached $8.43 million on January 25 but then fell to below $60,000, losing over 96% of its value.
Norris said he doesn’t have a Telegram account and doesn’t use X much. He added, “I didn’t know I was hacked until I started getting texts from friends saying it’s out there.” This is the second time his account has been hacked for a cryptocurrency scam.
In November, onchain investigator ZachXBT connected a hacking group, linked to a former Fortnite player, to several account hacks. These hacks included accounts belonging to McDonald’s, Usher, and Dean Norris.
The hack happened after a surge of interest in memecoins, including the unexpected launch of a memecoin by former President Donald Trump on January 18, which quickly reached a market value of almost $9 billion within hours.
