On August 21, 2024, a hacker hijacked one of the biggest fast-food chains McDonald’s Instagram accounts to promote a fake Solana-based meme coin called “GRIMACE.” Within just 30 minutes, the hackers stole over $700,000 in funds, as this fake token skyrocketed and its market capitalization reached $25 million before crashing to $1 million, according to data from pump.Fun.
Later, the hackers deleted the fake meme coin “GRIMACE” post from Instagram, which suggests that McDonald is experimenting on Solana. After the hack and theft of the funds, the hacker adds a thank you message, saying “Thank you for the $700,000 in Solana.”
Additionally, Guillaume Huin, the marketing director of McDonald’s, gained significant attention from the crypto community as his post on X (previously Twitter) went viral. In the post on X, the marketing director added,
“If you’re a holder of $GRIMACE, drop your Instagram handles below, we will follow you on the official McDonald account. We love and appreciate all the support of Grimace.”
However, both of these posts on X and Instagram vanished soon, but they had already hurt investors.
This is not the first time hackers have used any popular firm or celebrity Instagram or X accounts. Earlier, in August 2023, hackers targeted the X account of Blockchain Capital. Additionally, these hackers targeted investors and crypto enthusiasts by offering “BCAP” token giveaways through fake websites.
Hackers prefer this type of attack to trick individuals into linking their crypto wallets.
