Recently, a group of cryptocurrency scammers attempted what turned out to be a lackluster operation when they hacked several prominent social media accounts on September 18. The compromised accounts, which included notable names like Lenovo India and Yahoo News UK, began promoting a Solana -based memecoin called HACKED. Despite their efforts, the scam yielded only a modest profit of a few thousand dollars.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT was among the first to alert the community about the compromised accounts, pointing out that the attackers openly acknowledged hacking the accounts in an unusual bid to promote the token. The hackers claimed that for every account they infiltrated, they would publish the token address to generate profits together. However, this apparent transparency did not resonate with the audience, leading to minimal financial gains for the scammers.
ZachXBT estimated that the scammers might have realized only around $8,000 from their operation, contrasting sharply with the market activity. The HACKED token initially surged by 900% within an hour, but quickly lost value, ultimately collapsing to a mere market capitalization of $3,100. The limited profits from this venture starkly highlighted the risks and volatility of participating in such schemes.
While specific details regarding the breach remained scarce, it was suggested that the compromised accounts may have granted permissions to a common website or application. ZachXBT advised social media users to regularly check their settings and revoke access to any apps that are no longer in use to safeguard against similar incidents.
Instances of account hacks aimed at promoting dubious tokens have been frequent, with previous attacks targeting influencers and figures in the cryptocurrency space. The increasing prevalence of scams related to low-cost, high-throughput blockchain platforms like Solana and Base underscores the importance of vigilance in the crypto community.
