On June 25, Metallica’s official Twitter account was hacked, with the culprits prompting a fake Solana memecoin called METAL. This incident is part of a growing trend where celebrities’ social media accounts are used for pump-and-dump schemes.
The hackers used Metallica’s account to tweet about the METAL token, claiming false partnerships with companies like Ticketmaster and MoonPay, and even hosted a Twitter Spaces audio discounts on tickets and merchandise, attracting significant attention.
Despite the fraudulent posts being deleted within 90 minutes, the damage was done. METAL token saw over $10 million in trading volume before crashing. The token was launched on Solana’s token deployer pump.fun, and within a short period, its value dropped from a peak of $0.003 to below $0.00007. The token’s market cap soared to $3.37 million at its height but now sits at around $50,000.
The crypto community quickly flagged the scam, and MoonPay President Keith Grossman clarified that MoonPay did not support METAL. MoonPay also issued a warning on Twitter, playfully referencing Metallica’s famous song, anyone offering the METAL token is “not the master of puppets, they’re the master of scams.” In revenge, the hackers blocked MoonPay from Metallica’s hacked account.
This incident underscores the persistent issue of celebrity social media accounts being hijacked for fraudulent schemes. Just a week earlier, rapper 50 Cent’s followers were targeted similarly, and earlier this month, pro wrestler Hulk Hogan was also a victim.
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