In a brazen cyberattack, hackers took control of McDonald’s official Instagram account on August 21st to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency. The incident involved a “rug pull” scheme centered around a memecoin named “Grimace,” based on the fast-food chain’s well-known purple mascot.
Social Media Hijacked For Memecoin Scheme
Screenshots shared online reveal a series of posts on McDonald’s Instagram account, boasting about a fake “McDonald’s experiment on Solana” – a blockchain platform popular for memecoins. These posts, broadcasted to the company’s 5.1 million followers worldwide, aimed to legitimize the bogus Grimace token.
Pump and Dump via Hacked Account
Blockchain analytics service Bubblemaps suggests the hacker initially acquired a significant stake (75%) of the Grimace token’s total supply using pump.fun, a Solana memecoin deployment tool. This manipulation likely involved dividing the tokens across roughly 100 wallets.
Following the deceptive social media posts, data from DexScreener shows a dramatic surge in the value of the Grimace token. From a market capitalization of just a few thousand dollars, the token skyrocketed to a staggering $25 million within a mere 30 minutes.
However, this meteoric rise was short-lived. As soon as the hacker dumped their holdings, the price plummeted. Within 40 minutes, the Grimace token’s value had crashed to a lowly $650,000. Bubblemaps estimates the hacker profited approximately $700,000 in Solana (SOL) from this orchestrated scam.
Blatant Bragging and Account Recovery
The hacker further taunted McDonald’s by editing the account’s bio section. This edit boasted about the exploit and acknowledged the $700,000 haul in Solana. Thankfully, the posts promoting the memecoin and the altered bio have since been removed, with the account reverting to normal.
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In a statement to the New York Post, McDonald’s acknowledged the “isolated incident” impacting their social media accounts on August 21st. The company apologized to fans for “any offensive language” used during the attack, emphasizing that the issue had been resolved.
This incident highlights the growing risk of social media hacks targeting high-profile accounts. It serves as a stark reminder for investors to exercise caution with memecoins and cryptocurrencies promoted through questionable channels.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is for general purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. The author’s views are personal and may not reflect the views of Chain Affairs. Before making any investment decisions, you should always conduct your own research. Chain Affairs is not responsible for any financial losses.
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