McDonald's Instagram profile hacked by crypto fraudsters

Hackers have taken over McDonald's Instagram account to create a Solana-memecoin to promote. The damage: $700,000.

On Wednesday, both McDonald's Instagram profile and Senior Marketing Director Guillaume Huin's Twitter account were hacked to promote a crypto token called "GRIMACE." The Solana memcoin then quickly reached a market capitalization of $25 million, and within minutes the price of GRIMACE rose 195,000%. The rise lasted only briefly, however; funds were withdrawn and the price imploded. The scam earned the hackers about $700,000.

Then they returned to McDonald's Instagram account and changed its biography to "You have just been pulled back." They also thanked ironically for the $700,000.

A back pull is a form of fraud in which usually the developers of a project abandon it, take out the liquidity and run off with investors' money.

The data platform Bubblemaps wrote on X that the hackers apparently used multiple addresses to buy most of the crypto tokens on Pump.fun before the big price increase.

Apparently, McDonald's did not regain control of its Instagram profile until more than an hour after the hackers' first message. The company deleted all messages related to the memecoin.

In recent months, hackers have increasingly used similar tactics to spread cryptoscams through the accounts of celebrities such as Doja Cat and 50 Cent.