On Tuesday, cricket fans in India were targeted by scammers using a Solana-based token. The perpetrators sought to exploit sports enthusiasts following the hacking of the Delhi Capitals’ X account. However, the scheme failed to gain significant traction despite unusual attempts to promote the memecoin.
Related Reading
New Promotional Tactics by Crypto Fraudsters
Delhi Capitals, the Indian Premier League (IPL) team, recently experienced a breach of their social media security. On Tuesday, hackers seized control of the cricket team’s X account, targeting their 2.6 million followers. The perpetrators promoted a Solana-based token through a series of now-deleted posts, attempting to inflate its price with their unusual strategies.
Hackers typically exploit public figures or organizations with substantial followings by impersonating them. They often promote Solana-based memecoins linked to the hacked individual.
Scammers fabricate claims that these figures have entered the cryptocurrency market, occasionally touting fake collaborations with firms in the sector. Such tactics often mislead thousands of unsuspecting users, leading them to invest in these scams.
In this instance, the hackers behind Delhi Capitals adopted a different strategy. They labeled their Solana memecoin “HACKER” and openly announced their unauthorized access to the account.
One of their posts claimed, “Yes, this is a hacked account!” and asserted that they would “make profits” from it. The hackers admitted that they utilize this method to elevate their scams, consistently urging users to search for the ticker on X to witness their “strength”:
We will make profits; WE hack accounts, and the token address will be shared on each account, making the token pump. Search $HACKER to see our strength!
A brief search on X indicated that this was not the attackers’ first attempt. The ticker reveals that the hackers had previously attempted to defraud crypto investors and sports fans using similar methods.
According to a report, the Korean Esports team T1 and two cryptocurrency-related applications recently experienced similar security breaches. The posts displayed identical messages to those of the Delhi Capitals but featured a different Solana contract address.
HACKER Token’s Lackluster Performance
Memecoin scams involving Solana have previously swindled millions from users. As noted by NewsBTC, multiple celebrities and organizations have fallen prey to these fraudulent activities. Recently, hackers promoted a fictitious Solana token on McDonald’s official Instagram account.
The memecoin, themed around the character Grimace, skyrocketed over 400% to a market valuation of $25 million in under an hour, leading to around $700,000 in ill-gotten gains for the scammer.
Other rug pull schemes have targeted fans of personalities such as Real Madrid player Kylian Mbappé and former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, the latter resulting in a $17 million con.
Nonetheless, the Delhi Capitals’ hackers did not manage to benefit from the cricket team’s 2.6 million followers. The HACKER token failed to exceed a market cap of $40,000 at the time of its creation and couldn’t even reach half that amount during the scam.
Related Reading
It’s noteworthy that during such scams, some investors deliberately trade these counterfeit tokens to take advantage of the hype prior to the scheme unraveling. This time, it appears that most of the token’s transactions were executed by the hackers as part of their scheme.
After the cricket team regained control of their X account and removed all posts related to HACKER, the token’s trading activity dropped to zero. At the time of writing, the Solana memecoin has a market cap of $4,300.
Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Dutch
English
French
German
Greek
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish