Cryptocurrency hackers claim to have broken into McDonald’s official Instagram account and used it to promote a fake digital currency, making off with $700,000 in stolen money.
Screenshots circulating online show the caption on McDonald’s Instagram page has been changed to read: “Sorry Ma Naga. Just got scammed by India_X_Kr3w. Thanks Solana for the $700,000.”
The caption, which was seen by more than 5.1 million followers on McDonald’s Instagram account, included an emoji depicting the Indian flag.
“McDonald’s is aware of an isolated incident that affected our social media accounts early today,” it said in a statement.
“The issues with these accounts have now been resolved and we apologize to our fans for any offensive language posted during that time,” McDonald said.
In cryptocurrency lingo, a “rug pull” refers to a type of fraud where a cryptocurrency creator withdraws funds from a coin’s liquidity pool and disappears, leaving investors with worthless tokens.
“Rug pulling” is typically carried out by creating fake tokens and aggressively promoting them on social media and online cryptocurrency forums.
Creators are drumming up hype around the digital coin, encouraging investors to get in at an early stage before its value soars.
Once enough liquidity is accumulated by combining the counterfeit coins with more established cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, the creators withdraw the liquidity, causing the value to plummet to zero.
The scammers then delete their social media accounts and erase their online presence, making it difficult for investors to track them down and get their funds back.
The hackers claim to have targeted McDonald’s social media accounts, using them to promote a fake meme coin called “GRIMACE” on the Solana Network, a high-performance blockchain platform designed for decentralized cryptocurrencies.
Within 30 minutes, the value of the counterfeit tokens rose from zero to $25 million before plummeting. According to the news site Cryptopolitan.
The account of McDonald’s senior marketing director, Guillaume Huin, also appears to have been hacked.
X and his social media pages on Instagram contained posts promoting the counterfeit coins, one of which referenced the “McDonald’s Solana experiment.”
The posts promoting the fake cryptocurrency were later removed.
Grimace is a large purple character created by McDonald’s as part of the fast food chain’s marketing and advertising campaigns.
New York Mets baseball fans and religious figures are aware that since Grimas threw the first pitch before a game against the Miami Marlins on June 12, the team has turned its season around from a losing record to contending for a playoff spot.
