UK hacker linked to compromised celebrity X accounts used to promote $530m meme coin scam: report
The post UK hacker linked to compromised celebrity X accounts used to promote $530m meme coin scam: report appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
On-chain sleuth ZachXBT has identified connections between the hack of two Hollywood celebrities’ X accounts — which were used to create meme coin scams — and the convicted UK hacker Gurvinder Bhangu, aka Gurv. In an X thread today, July 30, well-known anonymous crypto investigator ZachXBT revealed his research into two recent high-profile X account hacks. The compromised accounts of actors Sydney Sweeney and Bob Odenkirk were used to advertise scam meme coins that reportedly generated $530,000 in stolen funds. According to ZachXBT’s investigation, on July 2, Sweeney’s X account was compromised and posts promoting a Solana-based token dubbed “$SWEENEY” began to appear from the actor’s hacked account. Within two hours, the scam token saw over $10 million in trading volume, causing its price to spike and then crash. 2/ On July 2nd Sydney Sweeney was SIM swapped and a link to a meme coin was posted causing the price to spike and crash. Team wallets from the SWEENEY scam sold $515K+ Main team walletsAgySZeAtqM3iSbvMPxv2g94oTd3segx4WdKuFD7M5CErjQEaiiAkRGhFoCDnjxn6mmtrksC4EckF38fxkaNMs1j pic.twitter.com/Vm0txgjl7B — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 30, 2024 The attack coincided with reports that Sweeney’s Verizon phone number was reportedly hijacked. 404 media obtained a Verizon receipt from the same day, indicating a $37.54 payment order, confirming that Sweeney was the victim of a sim-swapping attack. According to ZachXBT, Gurv — previously convicted in the U.K. for hacking Instagram accounts and blackmailing users — received verification codes for Sweeney’s account via Telegram, strengthening the link between Gurv and the hack. ZachXBT highlighted that the hacker used the same Telegram user ID to receive the code across multiple groups, discussing his time in prison and linking it to the hacks. The crypto investigator added that proceeds from the attack were initially transferred as Solana (SOL) to an exchange, where the funds were swapped for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum…
Filed under: News - @ July 31, 2024 5:10 pm