Hackers seized control of 50 Cent’s X account last Friday and used it to promote a pump-and-dump scheme involving the Solana-based memecoin GUNIT. A series of promotional posts for the fraudulent coin quickly flooded his account.
The hacked posts were elaborate, referencing brands associated with the rapper, including his cognac brand, and alluding to recent celebrity-related memecoin narratives like the Donald Trump Token (DJT) launched by Martin Shkreli.
50 Cent promptly distanced himself from the GUNIT memecoin via an announcement on his official Instagram account. He stated:
“My Twitter and Thisis50.com were hacked. I have no association with this crypto.”
In his statement, 50 Cent noted that X (formerly Twitter) acted swiftly to lock his account. However, he claimed that the perpetrators made $300 million in the 30 minutes the scheme was active.
While 50 Cent’s $300 million claim could not be confirmed, multiple data sources revealed that the scam coin generated $18.6 million in trading volume within 40 minutes, with its value surging by approximately 8,000% before plummeting as liquidity dried up.
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Analysts believe the hackers capitalized on the ongoing memecoin frenzy in the crypto industry. 50 Cent is one of several celebrities to fall victim to hacking and impersonation in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, hackers hijacked former WWE champion Hulk Hogan’s X account to promote HULK, a scam coin that attracted $82 million in trading volume in a single day.
Data from DEXScreener shows that GUNIT’s market cap was $157,000 at the time of writing, with the token trading for $0.0001585.
Source: coinedition.com