- Scammers hacked the fast food giant’s Instagram account to promote a fake meme coin, $GRIMACE.
- McDonald’s acknowledged the ‘isolated incident’ and resolved the issue.
- Bubblemaps said the hackers initially acquired 75% of the meme coin’s total supply.
In a recent wave of high-profile hacks, crypto hackers took control of McDonald’s Instagram account. Their aim was to promote a fake meme coin $GRIMACE and they stole $700K from the victims.
The Hacked McDonald’s Account
On Wednesday, hackers took over McDonald’s official Instagram account and promoted a Solana-based meme coin, $GRIMACE, named after the restaurant’s purple monster mascot.
The account’s bio changed to ‘Sorry mah n–a you have just been rug pulled by India_X_Kr3w thank you for the $700,000 in Solana,’ featuring an Indian flag emoji. McDonald’s marketing director Guillaume Huin’s X account was also hacked.
The fast food chain confirmed to the New York Post that it was ‘aware of an isolated incident.’
Crypto Rug Pulls
A ‘rug pull’ is a type of exit scam. Hackers create and promote a fake token on social media to attract investor funding, only to shut down the project and disappear.
Blockchain analytics service Bubblemaps notes the hackers acquired 75% of $GRIMACE’s total supply and distributed the tokens among approximately 100 digital wallets.
hacker owned 75% of the supply
used multiple addresses to buy on Pumpfun simultaneously, then spread into ~100 addresses
sold for $700k
thanks, @McDonalds 🍟 https://t.co/Gt9yb3V3qp pic.twitter.com/ojLoiJamdy
— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) August 21, 2024
In Retrospect
Unfortunately, cyberattacks causing financial and mental harm to investors have become more prevalent this year.
Scammers commonly use social media to generate hype and FOMO, so always DYOR before investing in any crypto or NFT project.
References
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not constitute financial advice. We encourage readers to conduct their own research and determine their own risk tolerance before making any financial decisions. Cryptocurrency is a highly volatile, high-risk asset class.
