Surprisingly, rapper Wiz Khalifa’s X profile fell victim to hackers promoting an obscure digital currency named $WIZ through pump.fun. Blockchain expert ZachXBT suggests that the culprits could be linked to a previous incident where they seized control of the X account belonging to Truth Terminal’s founder.
Security Breach on Wiz Khalifa’s Profile
During the brief window before the post got removed, Khalifa’s compromised account endorsed the $WIZ token, causing a stir among his followers.
The hackers mentioned,
“The artist is collaborating with our team to distribute $WIZ to all cryptocurrency enthusiasts.”
This led to a temporary surge in the value of the WIZ memecoin, reaching a peak of $3.4 million in the initial 15 minutes.
However, this spike was short-lived. Within the subsequent hour, the token’s market cap plummeted to under $28,000 as early investors swiftly offloaded their holdings. Currently, WIZ is being traded at approximately $8,400, showing a significant 93.67% drop in value over the last 24 hours, according to DEX Screener.
This rapid price fluctuation underscored a familiar pump-and-dump scheme often associated with fraudulent tokens.
ZachXBT’s Warning Message
As anticipated, blockchain investigator ZachXBT raised an alarm within the community through a Telegram channel, sharing a snapshot of a deleted post from Khalifa’s X account.
ZachXBT cautioned traders about the WIZ memecoin from pump.fun, suspecting that a fraudster exploited Khalifa’s account to endorse deceptive tokens.
He alerted,
“Avoid purchasing the Wiz Khalifa pump fun [token] as it’s the same individual who compromised Andy Ayrey (Truth Terminal creator) recently.”
Though the hacker’s identity remains undisclosed, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT believes the same person breached Andy Ayrey’s account. ZachXBT suggests that the recent breach of Wiz Khalifa’s X account is linked to the assailant who infiltrated Ayrey’s account on October 29.
In the prior incident, scammers utilized Ayrey’s account to promote a dubious memecoin known as Infinite Backrooms (IB). This cryptocurrency drew inspiration from an AI chat experiment that eventually led to the establishment of the Truth Terminal project.
By promising airdrops to individuals who endorsed the associated Telegram group, the scammers duped over $600,000 from unsuspecting followers.
Similar Irregularities
The emergence of celebrity-themed memecoins like Iggy Azalea’s MOTHER has not only sparked copycats seeking to capitalize on famous personalities but also given rise to fraudulent activities, with cybercriminals misusing high-profile accounts to promote unverified tokens.
For instance, hackers recently compromised Kylian Mbappé’s X account to push the MBAPPE token, resulting in a particular investor losing over $1 million when the coin’s value nosedived within an hour. Celebrities such as Jason Derulo and Metallica have also been targeted in similar schemes.