Hackers hacked the account of the American rock band Metallica on the social network X in order to advertise their METAL token on the Solana blockchain. The scammers managed to earn $3 million.
In the first tweet posted on behalf of Metallica, the attackers announced that the METAL token will improve fan interaction with the music group. Subscribers were told that the METAL developers are collaborating with the Ticketmaster service, so investors have access to discounts of up to 25% on concert tickets, as well as participation in an exclusive token distribution.
The hackers then tweeted another one, announcing a partnership with payment service MoonPay, which would allow users to buy METAL tokens using credit and debit cards. MoonPay management soon denied the information, stating that it does not support the token. MoonPay warned subscribers that if you are offered METAL, it is “not from the puppet master from the song Master of puppets, but from masters of fraud.”
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
Approximately 20 minutes after the hacker tweets were published, METAL’s market capitalization exceeded $3 million. After reports of the hack appeared, the token collapsed by almost 100%, and the market capitalization fell below $90,000. Metallica has already restored access to its account and deleted the tweets, but has not commented incident.
In February, fraudsters hacked the account of the American company MicroStrategy on the social network X, posting phishing links to MSTR tokens, which the company itself allegedly developed. The total losses of users exceeded $440,000.