Grimace

Solana

Scammers who hacked the official McDonald’s Instagram page on Aug. 21 made off with over $700,000 in Solana after using the fast food giant’s social media page to promote and rug a memecoin called “Grimace.”
According to screenshots <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/timo_bult/status/1826284191115530600" rel="null" target="null" text="null">shared</a> on X, the McDonald’s Instagram page made a series of posts promoting a sham token based on the fast food chain’s purple mascot, Grimace.
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 <img alt="McDonald’s Instagram hackers make $700K shilling Grimace memecoin" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/GVhDk5nWIAAV4zP">
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 Screenshot of the McDonald’s Instagram promoting Grimace token. Source: X
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Several posts described the sham memecoin as a “McDonald’s experiment on Solana,” which was blasted to its 5.1 million followers around the world.
According to <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/bubblemaps/status/1826317923717099549?s=46&amp;t=MuRujqZUAz3TQE1vmr3c6A" rel="null" target="null" text="null">data</a> from blockchain analytics service Bubblemaps, the hacker first used Solana memecoin deployer pump.fun to snap up 75% of the total circulating supply of the Grimace token before splitting it between roughly 100 different wallets.&nbsp;
Following the posts from the official McDonald’s account, the value of the GRIMACE memecoin rallied from a market capitalization of a few thousand dollars to as high as $25 million within 30 minutes, per DexScreener <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://dexscreener.com/solana/ebv3fvhxjeq73wnvqedddlm1ug5jc3azqufv7r9lwye" rel="null" target="null" text="null">data</a>.&nbsp;
The token’s price then plummeted as the hacker dumped their holdings, and within 40 minutes, the value of the memecoin slumped as low as $650,000.&nbsp;
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 <img alt="McDonald’s Instagram hackers make $700K shilling Grimace memecoin" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/Screenshot%202024-08-22%20at%209.18.02%E2%80%AFAM">
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 The value of GRIMACE surged to million in 30 minutes. Source: Dexscreener
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Bubblemaps said the hackers made off with a total profit of approximately $700,000 in Solana (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/solana-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null">SOL</a>) from their efforts.&nbsp;
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ava-labs-coo-x-account-hacked-memecoin-phishing-posts" rel="null" target="null" text="null">Ava Labs COO confirms X account hacked after posting memecoin</a>
Following the attack, the hacker also edited the bio section of the McDonald’s page to brag about their exploits, also sharing that they had netted a total of $700,000 from the rug pull.
“Sorry mah n-gga you have just been rug pulled by India_X_Kr3w thank you for the $700,000 in Solana,” wrote the hacker.&nbsp;
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 <img alt="McDonald’s Instagram hackers make $700K shilling Grimace memecoin" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/Untitled%20design%20%2870%29">
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 Screenshot showing McDonald’s Instagram bio when it was hacked. Source: X
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The posts promoting the memecoin and the bio have now been removed and returned to normal.&nbsp;
McDonald’s told the New York Post in a statement that it was aware of an “isolated incident” that had impacted its social media accounts on Aug. 21.&nbsp;
“We have resolved the issue on those accounts and apologize to our fans for any offensive language posted during that time,” McDonald’s said.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/5-ways-crypto-bots-are-ruining-crypto-including-auto-memecoin-rug-pulls/" rel="null" target="null" text="null">How crypto bots are ruining crypto — including auto memecoin rug pulls</a>

McDonald’s Instagram hackers make $700K shilling Grimace memecoin

Cointelegraph

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