The recent hacking of McDonald’s official Instagram account has left the fast-food giant reeling after cybercriminals managed to pull off a sophisticated scam that resulted in over $700,000 in Solana (SOL) being stolen. The hackers promoted a fake memecoin named after McDonald’s purple mascot, Grimace, to the account’s 5.1 million followers, falsely presenting it as a “McDonald’s experiment on Solana.”
Blockchain analytics service Bubblemaps revealed that the hackers acquired 75% of the Grimace token’s total supply through Solana’s memecoin marketplace, pump.fun, and spread these tokens across roughly 100 different wallets. The market capitalization of the Grimace memecoin skyrocketed to $25 million in just 30 minutes before plummeting to around $650,000 as the hackers dumped their holdings.
The hackers even went as far as changing McDonald’s Instagram bio to boast about their success, writing, “You just have been rug pulled, thank you for the $700,000 in Solana.” However, all fraudulent posts and the edited bio have since been removed, and McDonald’s has regained control of its account.
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the growing risks of social media platforms being exploited for crypto scams. In a similar vein, several high-profile accounts, including those of Doja Cat, Sydney Sweeney, 50 Cent, and Hulk Hogan, were hacked in July to promote memecoins named after them.
McDonald’s has described the breach as an “isolated incident” and assured its followers that the issue has been resolved. The company has apologized for any offensive content posted during the hack. This incident underscores the importance of vigilance and caution in the face of increasing cyber threats in the crypto space.
