The official X account of the worldwide digital market Nasdaq was apparently hacked and used to advertise a pretend meme coin named STONKS.
Blockchain knowledge reveals that the bogus token’s market cap skyrocketed to $80 million earlier than finally collapsing.
How the Rip-off Unfolded
In keeping with varied reviews, the attackers took management of the Nasdaq account and linked it to a pretend X profile, @nasdaqmeme, full with a gold verified badge marking it as an affiliate.
They then made a submit selling the pretend STONKS coin and retweeted it with the Nasdaq account, which has over 133,000 followers. The retweet and the obvious connection between the 2 accounts created a facade of credibility, duping unsuspecting traders into shopping for the token.
Inside hours, STONK’s worth soared 390 instances its authentic worth, with knowledge from DEXscreener displaying that the token reached a market capitalization of $80 million and buying and selling volumes in extra of $185 million.
Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise ended abruptly as its worth plummeted to zero, leaving traders with big losses. Some accounts counsel that the scammers walked away with no less than $4 million after rugging the coin.
Curiously, the fraudulent profile used within the con was a copycat of an current Solana meme coin, STNK, with the social media deal with @STONKS_SOL.
The reliable STONKS staff has warned the crypto neighborhood in regards to the rip-off and introduced plans to sue the sham challenge.
STNK was launched in April 2021 because the first-ever joke token on the Solana community. It’s primarily based on the “Stonks” meme created in 2017 by Henry Hooper and made well-known by the Gamestop brief squeeze saga on r/wallstreetbets.
Social Accounts Underneath Risk
The hacking incident sparked widespread reactions throughout the neighborhood, with many expressing disbelief at its audacity and class. Crypto dealer CRG described it because the “finest grift” they’d ever seen, whereas different customers identified the alarming ease with which the fraudsters secured a verified affiliate badge.
On the time of this writing, Nasdaq had not commented on the incident, though the offending submit has been deleted, and the @nasdaqmeme account has been suspended.
Incidents of dangerous actors taking up social media accounts to advertise phony cryptocurrencies have been on the rise these days. In the direction of the top of final yr, blockchain investigator ZachXBT uncovered an elaborate scheme the place hackers compromised 15 X accounts and used them to advertise pretend cash. The criminals reportedly made away with no less than $500,000 from the operation.
In one other incident, a special group of scammers focused the social media accounts of celebrities, together with singer Usher, rapper Wiz Khalifa, and actor Dean Norris, to push a slew of counterfeit tokens on Pump.enjoyable, stealing as a lot as $3.5 million within the course of.
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