Major X Accounts Hack Fizzles in Botched Crypto Scam Attempt

A wave of X account hacks has led to the rapid success of a pump-and-dump scheme for the $HACKED Solana token, with users rushing to buy in. High-profile accounts compromised in this attack include MoneyControl (1.4 million followers), People Magazine (7.8 million), and EUinmyRegion, run by the European Commission, with nearly 100,000 followers.

Moreover, Computer brand Lenovo’s India division, film director Oliver Stone, Yahoo News UK, and Brazilian soccer player Neymar Jr. were just some prominent users who appeared to have been hacked to push the scam, advertising a token with the ticker HACKED.

The attack began around 2:00 PM ET, when hundreds of hacked accounts posted identical messages promoting the $HACKED token. Each tweet declared, “THIS IS HACKED ACCOUNT! INTRODUCING $HACKED ON SOLANA,” further promoting the fraudulent promotion. The campaign seems to have been effective, with the token rapidly gaining holders and value.

Initially, the token had only 42 holders and a market cap of around $5,000. By the time of reporting, there were 436 holders, and the market cap had ballooned to over $166,000. However, the market was highly volatile, with investors quickly cashing in profits.

While it’s unclear exactly how the hackers gained access to these accounts, it’s speculated that they may have exploited a compromised API key or third-party apps linked to the accounts.

The coin has generated just $278,000 in total trading volume, and the market cap has dropped to $5,700 following a 96% price collapse within an hour. This rapid dump indicates a typical pump-and-dump scheme with little long-term impact despite the significant number of hacked accounts.

What is $Hacked Coin?

HACKED is a new meme coin running on Solana, the crypto network behind the fifth giant digital coin, SOL.

Pseudonymous crypto investigator ZachXBT was the first to report on the compromised accounts, highlighting that despite the broad reach of the attack, the trading volume of the pushed cryptocurrency was minimal. Hackers only managed to profit around $8,000 from the operation.

The Solana network serves various purposes, but it has recently emerged as the top blockchain for minting new tokens, especially meme coins. These highly volatile cryptocurrencies are often based on internet trends, celebrities, or notable real-world events, contributing to Solana’s popularity in this niche.

Previous Attempts

This isn’t the first instance of scammers hijacking X accounts to promote questionable tokens. In May, a series of hacks targeted crypto influencers and celebrities, making it appear they were endorsing various meme coins.

Over the past year, notable crypto entities such as MicroStrategy, Algorand, Rocket Pool, Compound Finance, Ava Labs, and even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin have also had their X accounts compromised by scammers aiming to exploit their influence for fraudulent purposes.

Main Events In The Last 5 Years

Mandiant X Account Hacked

On January 2024, Mandiant’s X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked for over six hours, during which it was used to promote a cryptocurrency scam. The account was renamed to impersonate the Phantom crypto wallet and posted links to an airdrop scam. Mandiant has since regained control and is investigating the breach, which occurred despite the account having two-factor authentication enabled. The incident is part of a broader trend where cybercriminals hijack verified accounts to sell or promote scams.

Beeple’s Twitter Hack

In May 2023, renowned digital artist Beeple’s Twitter account was compromised. Hackers used the account to post phishing links, falsely advertising NFT giveaways. Many followers, thinking they were receiving exclusive NFTs, clicked on the malicious links and unknowingly connected their wallets, losing significant amounts of cryptocurrency and digital assets. This attack leveraged Beeple’s reputation in the crypto and art community to scam unsuspecting users.

Elon Musk Twitter Hack (2020)

In a highly publicized attack in July 2020, hackers took control of multiple high-profile Twitter accounts, including those of Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Apple. The compromised accounts posted identical messages promoting a Bitcoin scam, asking followers to send cryptocurrency to a specific address with the promise of doubling their money. Despite being a blatant scam, the attack reportedly earned hackers over $100,000 within a few hours before Twitter regained control.

Conclusion

The scammers’ transparency didn’t pay off, as crypto sleuth ZachXBT noted that top traders barely made $1,000, and the total earnings from the scam were likely only around $8,000. The Solana-based $HACKED token saw a brief 900% surge before crashing, with its market cap now down to $3,100. Despite this collapse, other tokens with the same name continue to appear on Solana decentralized exchanges.