Solana

An unknown group of crypto scammers has seemingly missed their payday after hacking their way into several high-profile social media accounts on Sept. 18 — only to end up with a few thousand bucks.
On Sept. 18, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1836473279479189916" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">alerted</a> the crypto community that several “large accounts on X” were compromised, all posting a <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/how-to-make-a-profit-from-solana-memecoins" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Solana memecoin</a> called HACKED.
Some of the infiltrated accounts included Lenovo India, Yahoo News UK, MoneyControl, Oliver Stone, People and Krystal DeFi.&nbsp;
But unlike other run-of-the-mill X account <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/how-to-identify-crypto-scam-ads-on-social-media" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">hacks</a>, the latest string of attacks was a little different.&nbsp;
The scammers made it clear the account was hacked and weirdly tried to use that to shill the token. On each compromised X account, they wrote:&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 “On each account we hack we publish the token address so we pump it and make profits together.” &nbsp;
</blockquote>
The apparent transparency didn’t seem to work. ZachXBT said the <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/celebrity-x-accounts-hacked-roxo-identifies-sahil-arora" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">scammers</a> “likely lost money purchasing this method as the top traders have barely made $1,000, and the market cap was $67,000,” adding they likely only made $8,000 off the scam.&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 “They removed liquidity for the meme coin and only made $8K off the scam.”&nbsp;
</blockquote>
<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://dexscreener.com/solana/8aeamc8hb9kvjyrsbch8ssqc5qwtmrrwn71tm2ge6diu" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://dexscreener.com/solana/8aeamc8hb9kvjyrsbch8ssqc5qwtmrrwn71tm2ge6diu">According</a> to DEX Screener, the Solana-based HACKED token pumped 900% in around an hour before dumping again. It has since collapsed and has a market capitalization of $3,100, though several other tokens with the same name are on Solana decentralized exchanges.&nbsp;
<figure>
 <img alt="Crypto scammers orchestrate massive hack on X but barely made $8K" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/01920847-369d-7eb7-87bd-374ef9b58480">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Price chart for HACKED/SOL. Source: DEX Screener
 </figcaption>
</figure>
ZachXBT noted that few details about the heist are available but said “I would expect these accounts all gave permissions to the same site or app.”
He reminded X users to always go into the settings and revoke connected apps that are not used.&nbsp;
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/rapper-50-cent-x-hacker-memecoin-rug-pull-scam" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Rapper 50 Cent claims X account was hacked to promote celeb memecoin</a>
It is not the first time scammers have targeted X accounts to pump dodgy tokens. In May, a hacking spree <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/wave-crypto-influencers-celebrity-x-accounts-caitlyn-jenner-hacked" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/wave-crypto-influencers-celebrity-x-accounts-caitlyn-jenner-hacked">targeted crypto industry influencers and celebrities</a> to make it seem they were shilling various memecoins.&nbsp;
Other crypto entities, including&nbsp;<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/microstrategy-x-account-hacked-phishing-scam" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">MicroStrategy</a>, Algorand, Rocket Pool, Compound Finance, Ava Labs and even Ethereum co-founder&nbsp;<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/ethereum-vitalik-buterin-x-hackers-drain" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Vitalik Buterin</a>,&nbsp;have had their X accounts hacked over the past year.
Low fee, high throughput blockchains such as Solana and Base have become a hotbed for scam tokens and memecoins in 2024.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/base-meme-coins-scams-vulnerabilities-honeypot/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">1 in 6 new Base memecoins are scams, 91% have vulnerabilities</a>

Crypto scammers orchestrate massive hack on X but barely made $8K

Cointelegraph

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