The X account (formerly Twitter) of Metallica is a victim of a crypto scam. The hackers used the profile of the famous heavy metal band to promote the fake memecoin METAL, based on Solana.
Metallica: the X account (formerly Twitter) used by hackers to promote a crypto scam
In the span of 90 minutes, theMetallica’s X (formerly Twitter) account, the famous heavy metal band, was used by hackers to promote a crypto scam.
The hackers allegedly tweeted the launch of a new and fake memecoin METAL, based on Solana, on Metallica’s profile. The asset was presented as a “new dynamic token” and its creation took place in collaboration with Ticketmaster, which however would not have announced anything about it.
The post also reported that the fake memecoin METAL was distributed on pump.fun, a token deployer based on Solana.
The account X of Metallica is currently followed by 6.1 million followers.
Metallica: the X account (formerly Twitter) hacked, but the crypto scam was exposed
Also in their post, then, the hackers involved MoonPay in their memecoin METAL, which however exposed the crypto scam.
The first tweet came from the President of MoonPay, Keith Grossman:
Pls be careful.
MoonPay does NOT support $METAL on @solana. https://t.co/oEd5Pzmdn9
— Keith A. Grossman (@KeithGrossman) June 26, 2024
“Be careful. MoonPay does not support $METAL on @solana. https://x.com/metallica/stat/metallica/status/1805759618217656519”
Another tweet from MoonPay then shared with its followers that the Metallica account would have blocked it.
Well that's a new one. pic.twitter.com/EzfsjyKGFq
— MoonPay 
(@moonpay) June 26, 2024
“This is new.”
And finally, after the crypto scam tweet was deleted, the Metallica X account would have retweeted the following post shared by MoonPay, as if to confirm they had been hacked.
MoonPay Safety Alert
If someone is offering you a $METAL token, they are not the master of puppets – they’re the master of scams! 
Keep your keys safe and ride the lightning responsibly!
https://t.co/y1j3RkfY0f
— MoonPay (@moonpay) June 26, 2024
“Security alert MoonPay If someone offers you a $METAL token, it is not the puppet master – it is the master of scams! Keep your keys safe and ride the lightning responsibly! https://x.com/Metallica/stat/Metallica/status/1805759618217656519”
In the 90 minutes of crypto scam, the token METAL was thriving, managing to record a trading volume of over 10 million dollars before dropping.
The market value of the asset rose to a maximum of 3.37 million dollars in just 20 minutes after the launch. But it fell to a minimum of 90,000 dollars within three hours.
Coinbase is the most used crypto brand by phishing scammers
Crypto scams are commonplace and continuously increasing, exploiting any technique at their disposal. Recently, it emerged that even Coinbase is the most used crypto brand by phishing scammers in the USA.
Phishing attacks are online social schemes that aim to deceive investors into voluntarily sending assets to the impersonator’s crypto wallet.
Apparently, Coinbase has collected 416 attacks in the last four years, with hackers posing as the crypto-exchange.
Nothing to do with Meta, which has been targeted by scammers for as many as 10,457 attacks, or JCB which is the brand in first place in the “banking and finance” category with 14,907 scams in its name.