Crypto hacker allegedly made fortune from Instagram heist on McDonald’s
Crypto hackers, known for their relentless attacks on the sector, are now targeting popular brands and celebrities on social media to prey on unsuspecting victims. In a recent breach, McDonald’s Instagram account was hacked to promote a fraudulent memecoin called “Grimace.” With a sizable following of 5.1 million, the fast food giant regularly shares promotional content on the platform. McDonald’s has since regained control of its account.
Following the August 21 attack, hackers changed McDonald’s Instagram bio to claim they had stolen $700,000 (approximately Rs 5.8 crore) through the scam, sparking outrage among the brand’s 5.1 million followers.
This is exactly what happened
Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported via tweets that whoever hacked the account had control of 75 percent of Grimace’s holdings through Solana memecoin deployer pump.fun.
“The hacker used multiple addresses to purchase (Grimace) on Pumpfun at once, then spread across ~100 addresses. Sold for $700,000 (approximately Rs. 5.8 crore),” Bubblemaps reported.
Screenshots of McDonald’s hacked Instagram account have surfaced on X. They show hackers misinforming followers of the accounts that the scam memecoin Grimace was an experiment by McDonald’s on the Solana blockchain, while promising holders of the Grimace memecoin a followback on their accounts. Within 30 minutes of these posts being published, Grimace’s market cap jumped to $25 million (roughly Rs. 20.9 crore), DexScreener’s facts reflected.
According to McDonald’s Instagram bio modified by the hacker, users were “rug pulled” by “India_X_kr3w.” “Thanks for the $700,000 in Solana,” the hacker noted.
McDonald’s Scammed $700,000
McDonald’s Instagram page has reportedly been hacked by someone named India_X_kr3w. They hacked the page and posted a ca of a memecoin called grimace which took the mc from 30k to over 15 million and they posted a telegram link with the song Blue Bentley photo.twitter.com/utrvRt8GUr
— Paris (@ParisWifCrypto) August 21, 2024
Someone hacked McDonalds Instagram and put token information on the Solana blockchain. Beware, this is a scam.
But it is also a signal that we are very, very close. photo.twitter.com/KqJVeiIpBR— Marcin Jeelec (@MarcinJelec) August 21, 2024
While some users on X speculate that the attacker could be Indian, no one from India has claimed responsibility for the breach, based on the hacker’s name and the Indian flag emoji left in the hacked bio. Therefore, it is currently unclear whether the hacker is actually linked to India.
What happened next?
McDonald’s has managed to recover his account since the hack. All posts related to the Grimace memecoin and the edited bio have been removed. According to DexScreener, the price of Grimace has dropped to $0.0003752 (approximately Rs. 0.031) since the hack.
A recent report According to Web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi, the number of crypto frauds increased by 91 percent in the second quarter of 2024 – between April and June – compared to the second quarter of 2023. The report states that the crypto industry lost $509 million (approximately Rs. 4,261 crore) to fraud and scams in the second quarter of 2024.
