Hackers Steal $1.7 Million Through Scam Coin on Former PM’s X Account

Hackers compromised the X account of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to promote a fraudulent meme coin, resulting in $1.7 million stolen. This incident is part of a trend involving political meme coins, following the TRUMP token rug pull which scammed investors out of $857 million.

  • The fraudulent coin, named MALAYSIA, was falsely promoted as Malaysia's official cryptocurrency on the Solana network.
  • The post was deleted within an hour but managed to generate $1.7 million in investments before crashing.
  • Data showed the token’s market cap spiked to $1.7 million in 15 minutes before collapsing.
  • Scammers have previously exploited names of political figures, including a former Brazilian President.
  • Coinbase users reported losses totaling $150 million due to various scams.
  • Telegram phishing attacks have surged by 2000% since November.

Crypto analysts indicate that these scams are likely to persist as speculative investments in unregulated projects continue, driven by investor pursuit of quick profits.