YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — McDonald’s Instagram page was hacked to promote the Solana memecoin GRIMACE. The unauthorized post falsely claimed that the token was part of a “McDonald’s experiment with Solana.” This led to a brief spike in GRIMACE’s market cap, which reached around $20 million before falling below $1 million, according to data from pump.fun.
The hacker altered McDonald’s Instagram profile and added a message thanking users for “$700,000 in Solana.” The message suggested a scam. Although the post was quickly removed, it highlighted a growing trend of hackers targeting popular social media accounts to promote cryptocurrency projects.
The hack of McDonald’s Instagram page is part of a series of attacks on social media accounts. Earlier this year, the X account of Google’s cybersecurity firm Mandiant was hacked. The attackers used the account to promote a fake token posing as the Phantom crypto wallet. The scam messages redirected users to a fraudulent website and remained online for several hours before being removed.
These incidents clearly show that more and more hackers are targeting accounts with a large number of followers. In addition, the scams often involve Solana memecoins such as GRIMACE, which take advantage of the rapid fluctuations in the value of these digital assets.
In July, American rapper and singer Doja Cat’s X-account was hacked to promote a Solana-based memecoin. During the attack, the hacker removed her profile picture and bio and then posted over two dozen tweets to her 5.6 million followers. Shortly after, Doja Cat addressed the situation on Instagram, telling her 24 million followers that she was not responsible for the posts.
This incident follows other hacks involving celebrities. The hack of Doja Cat’s account prompted reactions from other celebrities, including Iggy Azaleawho tweeted in support of Doja Cat.
In addition, the hacking of McDonald’s Instagram page and other well-known accounts is part of a larger wave of cyberattacks. The accounts of personalities such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have also been compromised. Most importantly, the rise in cyberattacks, especially since Elon Musk acquired X, has raised concerns about the security of verified accounts.
