Bad actors keep ramping up crypto scams, with impersonation accounts surging to over 300 a day, according to blockchain analysts.

Crypto scams on X are once again rising fast, with major accounts hijacked to promote fake tokens. Victims have already lost millions, and experts are warning users to stay alert.

Analysts at blockchain firm Scam Sniffer warned in an X post on Dec. 10 that starting this week, daily impersonation accounts surged by 87%, jumping to over 300 compared to the November average of 160. The spike increases the risk for users as scammers continue to exploit high-profile accounts to push fraudulent schemes.

The analysts note that in one recent case alone, two victims lost over $3 million worth of crypto by interacting with malicious links and signing transactions linked to fake accounts. As crypto.news reported earlier, the scams are particularly prevalent on Solana (SOL), where compromised accounts, including those of major entities like Yahoo News UK, Lenovo India, and Money Control, have been used to push a scam meme coin called HACKED.

Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, who has been tracking these scams, recently issued a warning to the crypto community, advising users to be extra cautious. “So far, it seems the scammers may have lost money, as the market cap of the HACKED token is a modest $67K, and top traders have barely made $1K,” ZachXBT noted.

The compromised X accounts appear to have been connected to the same malicious site or application. As a precaution, ZachXBT recommends that users revoke any access permissions to unfamiliar sites or apps.

The latest incident follows a series of similar scams, including the recent use of Kylian Mbappé’s account to promote a fake MBAPPE meme coin. Earlier in September, hackers also targeted family members of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump in a scam involving the fake World Liberty Financial coin.

Hailey Welch, an influencer on social media, launched her own memecoin, Hawk Tuah, on Dec. 4. The cryptocurrency crashed from $500 million to $60 million in just 20 minutes post-launch.

Hailey Welch, commonly known as the Hawk Tuah Girl on the internet, launched her new memecoin of the same name, $HAWK, on Solana on Dec. 4. The coin quickly took off, garnering a market cap of about $500 million, which then crashed to nearly $60 million, all within 20 minutes of launch. The news was further confirmed by Solana (SOL) on X.

Who is Hawk tuah girl?

Welch first rose to fame as the “Hawk tuah girl” after a video of her went viral, making a comical onomatopoeic sound of spitting took over social media earlier this year. With the meme, Welch soon progressed from working a minimum wage job to finding herself in an internet meme culture. Building on this viral moment, Welch launched the HAWK token. 

Rise and fall of HAWK token

The massive drop of almost 88% in the HAWK token has reignited the discussion on the high volatility of memecoins in the cryptocurrency community. Some crypto users believe the token was initially built for rug pulling, a cryptocurrency scam in which developers withdraw liquidity or suddenly abandon a project, resulting in the token’s price plummeting. 

According to content generated by the community on X, the Hawk token’s supply was allegedly “sniped” shortly after launch. This refers to instances where early investors or bots snatch up large amounts of tokens, leaving the broader community with less access and exposing them to risks. These are often warning signs of the health of the project as it shows few people own the token. However, not all holders have sold their HAWKs, as posted by a user, ZeusLFG, reflecting a strong optimism for the token.

At the time of writing, the token’s trading volume has risen exponentially by 951.67%, as per CoinMarketCap. While the debate goes on, Hawk Token remains under close observation, with members of the community demanding additional disclosures to confirm these claims and keep a close eye on this project.

The crypto market has become the center of attention, with the Bitcoin price aiming at the $100k mark. However, another incident is also gaining investors’ attention these days. A famous crypto investigator, ZachXBT made a major crypto scam finding, linking a pro gamer to a $3.5M meme coin scam. More importantly, these scams were also linked to major celebrity social media account hacks, scam promotions, and much more.

At one point, the crypto industry had earned a name for itself among the biggest finance entities, with $3.31T in global market capitalization. However, the rising crypto scams, theft, and laundering are concerning. Even Changpeng Zhao showed disappointment in memecoin and the rising scams.

ZachXBT Unveils $3.5M MemeCoin Scam and the Culprit

In 2024, the crypto market faced many wallet hacks, rug pull scams, and many other concerning scams. However, celebrity account hacks and the promotion of cryptocurrency-related scams were the most frequent.

Considering the rising case, a popular crypto investigator, ZachXBT, analyzed nine celebrity account hacks and the involved meme coins. He concluded that there is a connection between all these hacks. More importantly, he claimed that a pro-Fortnite gamer known by the name Serpent is the mastermind behind this.

ZachXBT linked this pro gamer in the $3.5M meme coin scam, confirming that he used multiple Pump.Fun memecoin and pump and dump tactics to make millions. Surprisingly, the biggest connection was the Serpent’s ERROR project wallet, which interacted with every social media hacker’s wallets directly or indirectly.

1/ An investigation into how the threat actor Serpent went from a pro Fortnite player to helping steal $3.5M via meme coin scams launched from 9+ account compromises on X & IG and gambling the proceeds away at online casinos. https://t.co/zR6QtuQW8a pic.twitter.com/Y8ovnEnQgj

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 27, 2024

Serpent is known as a pro gamer and blockchain security analyst. He is even the founder of the Sentinel, which is a threat mitigation system but new reports link him with the scam, making it a big controversy. More importantly, he scammed $3.5M and gambled them away in online casinos. The controversy grew as Serpent deleted many of his X posts right after ZachXBT’s claims.

Breaking Down The Serpent’s Crypto Scam

In a detailed X post, ZachXBT revealed his finding to the crypto community, which explained the memecoin scams of more than $3.5M after the scammer compromised various celebrity social media accounts. It includes the account hacks of  McDonald’s, Usher, Kabosu Owner, Andy Ayrey, Wiz Khalifa, SPX 6900, etc X (Twitter) and Instagram.

McDonald’s Instagram hack was among the first hacks of the year, where the scammer promoted a memecoin called GRIMACE and earned more than $690k with the pump and dump tactics. This happened on August 21, and the person shifted the funds to two main crypto wallets. The crypto scammer transferred 101.5 SOL to two addresses on September 3 and deployed the SCHRADER token. Interestingly, this token was promoted during the  Actor Dean Norris X account hack.

Further, on September 6, the scammer processed Mcdonald’s ATO to a casino deposit address with the beginning address as B2fw. This same account transferred 110 Sol to two new wallet addresses on September 12 and sniped the meme coins which was used during the Usher crypto hack. The same B2fw wallet transferred 4868 SOL to casino deposit address ECb5v, which is connected to Andy Ayrey and the Enoshima Aquarium hack on October 15.  Within the same day, 84 SOLs were transferred to ECb5v.

Even the popular AI bot Truth Terminal owner’s X account got hacked on October 29, which stayed compromised for days. In that period, 6 memecoins were promoted on his account. All these involved a common 3GVUs  wallet, and the same wallet transferred 169 SOL to Ecb5vs on October 30. However, this is just the mid, the list goes on for others.

Bottom Line

Meme-themed cryptocurrencies gained investors attention in 2024, where many offered heavy gains, mainly the Solana memecoins. As a result, millions of Solana-based meme tokens were launched this year on Pump. Fun, but many were misused for crypto scams. With his recent investigation, ZachXBT has revealed the person behind the $3.5M meme coins scam. The scams also involved hacking celebrity accounts and promoting tokens to boost their price and dumping them all. This way, the scammer or alleged pro-Fortnite gamer Serpent made heavy returns, but others were left with losses.

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Pooja Khardia

With a deep-seated passion for reading and five years of experience in content writing, Pooja is now focused on crafting trending content about cryptocurrency market.

As a dedicated crypto journalist, Pooja is constantly seeking out trending topics and informative statistics to create compelling pieces for crypto enthusiasts. Staying abreast of the latest trends and advancements in the field is an integral part of her daily routine, fueling a commitment to delivering timely and insightful coverage

Disclaimer: The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.