Cyber hackers have been known to relentlessly target various sectors, with recent attacks focusing on popular brands and celebrities on social media platforms. One such incident involved the hacking of McDonald’s Instagram account to promote a fraudulent memecoin known as ‘Grimace.’ With a massive following of 5.1 million, McDonald’s frequently shares promotional content on the platform. The hackers managed to breach the account on August 21, causing significant chaos among the brand’s followers.
According to blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps, the hackers behind the attack on McDonald’s Instagram account were able to obtain 75 percent of Grimace’s supply through the Solana memecoin deployer pump.fun. The hackers used multiple addresses to buy Grimace on Pumpfun simultaneously and then dispersed funds into approximately 100 different addresses. This led to the sale of Grimace for $700,000, causing the market cap of the memecoin to skyrocket to $25 million in just 30 minutes.
Screenshots of the hacked Instagram account show the hackers misleading followers by linking the scam memecoin Grimace to an experiment supposedly conducted by McDonald’s on the Solana blockchain. The hackers even promised to follow back holders of the Grimace memecoin on their accounts. The bio of McDonald’s Instagram account was changed to credit the hacker ‘India_X_kr3w’ for the $700,000 stolen through the scam.
After the breach, McDonald’s was quick to regain control of its Instagram account and removed all posts related to Grimace memecoin. The price of the memecoin has since plummeted to $0.0003752 from its peak during the hack. While some speculate that the attacker may have ties to India based on their name and the presence of an Indian flag emoji in the hacked bio, no official claims have been made.
A report by Web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi revealed that crypto scams increased by 91 percent in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. This surge in fraudulent activities has resulted in significant financial losses, with victims losing billions of dollars to crypto scams and frauds.
The cybercriminal landscape continues to evolve, with hackers targeting high-profile brands and individuals on social media platforms like Instagram. It is essential for companies and individuals to remain vigilant and implement robust security measures to protect themselves from such malicious attacks. The recent incident involving McDonald’s serves as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by cyber scams in the digital age.
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