According to U.Today, American heavy metal band Metallica, known for their 121 million album sales across 11 records, has been targeted by cryptocurrency scammers. The band's official account was recently compromised by malicious actors who used it to promote a fraudulent Solana-based meme coin, labeled METAL. This counterfeit cryptocurrency was falsely advertised as a 'dynamic new token' supposedly launched in partnership with American ticket sales and distribution company, Ticketmaster.
The compromised account announced that the token would be utilized for buying merchandise and gifts at Metallica events and online. It also introduced a staking feature for the token, which was purported to allow Metallica fans to earn rewards. This incident is not the first time the band has been a target of crypto fraudsters. Metallica was previously forced to issue a statement denying its involvement in fraudulent Bitcoin and Ethereum giveaways.
The band became a target for crypto fraudsters following the release of their much-anticipated album, '72 Seasons', their first full-length release in six years. A fake livestream promoting the bogus giveaway appeared on YouTube at the time. In the wake of several celebrity meme coins' launch, scammers are attempting to exploit the latest cryptocurrency trend. The social media account of American rapper 50 Cent was also recently compromised to promote a fake Solana token.