McDonald's Instagram account was reportedly compromised in a recent incident, used to promote a Solana-based memecoin called GRIMACE. The token saw a rapid rise in market capitalisation, reaching approximately £16 million before plummeting to less than £800,000, according to data from pump.fun.
The Instagram post promoting GRIMACE, which has since been removed, initially presented the token as "a McDonald's experiment on Solana". Additionally, the fast food chain's Instagram profile appeared to have been altered, displaying a message claiming "thank you for the £560,000 in Solana" and referencing a "rug pull", a term used for a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme where developers abandon a project after raising funds.
This incident is the latest in a series of hacks targeting the social media accounts of prominent firms and celebrities, particularly those with a vast following of tens of millions. These hacks often involve promoting Solana-based meme coins, exploiting the large audience reach of high-profile accounts.
Earlier this year, the X (formerly Twitter) account of Google's cybersecurity firm Mandiant was hijacked to promote a cryptocurrency scam. The attackers gained control of the account, impersonating the legitimate crypto wallet Phantom, and used the compromised account to tweet out a series of promotions directing users to a scam website.
The incident lasted several hours, during which Mandiant's X account tweeted a fraudulent message about a supposed $PHNTM token distribution, enticing users to visit a malicious site.
American rapper and singer Doja Cat also experienced a similar incident in July, with her X account hacked and used to promote a Solana-based meme coin. The hacker replaced Doja Cat's profile picture and description, posting over two dozen tweets to her 5.6 million followers.
Doja Cat promptly addressed the situation on Instagram, informing her 24 million followers that she was not behind the cryptocurrency tweets. The incident sparked a series of tweets about other celebrities, including Iggy Azalea, who responded to the hack with a tweet defending her friendship with Doja Cat and warning hackers.
This takeover is part of a broader pattern of high-profile X account hacks, following similar incidents involving figures like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Security concerns have escalated since Musk's acquisition of the platform, with recent reports indicating a rise in cybercriminal activity targeting verified X accounts.
