- Crypto enthusiasts lost millions as Kylian Mbappé’s X account was hacked and used to endorse a scam token.
Football star Kylian Mbappé’s X account was hacked on August 29. The cybercriminal behind this incident seized the opportunity to promote a scam token themed after the French forward called $MBAPPE.
The hacker promised Mbappé’s 14 million followers to double any tokens sent to a wallet address mentioned alongside the post pushing the fake token. Users acted quickly to make profits but were met with disappointment and losses. The hype riled up by the post caused $MBAPPE’s market cap to skyrocket to around $460 million in a few hours. However, its price fell and crashed below $100,000.
A User Lost $1 Million to the Scam
As the drama ensued, an individual deceived by the scam sent $1 million in SOL to the address to buy $MBAPPE tokens, only to lose it all in an hour. Blockchain security firm Lookonchain mentioned, “Someone created a new wallet and spent 7,156 $SOL($1.03M) to buy a #MEMEcoin named $MBAPPE in a single transaction, which is now only worth $9.2K.”
Source: Lookonchain on X
The size of the scam even warranted the well-known exchange Crypto.com to step in and warn users about the token. “Don’t fall for the $MBAPPE scam,” it said on X.
Source: Crypto.com on X
The scam did not fare badly for everybody. Some users profited as $MBAPPE’s market cap rose sharply. A trader whose identity is unknown made $124,000, buying into the token when its market cap was only $80,000 and selling it during higher price points. They flipped $28 into $124,000 in no time and cashed out of the position to reap the rewards.
Mbappé’s account went beyond luring investors into falling victim to the scam. It posted insulting and derogatory remarks aimed at football stars Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. All the posts have been deleted.
