Hassan Shittu

Last updated:

June 26, 2024, 09:46 EDT | 2 min read

The official X (formerly Twitter) account of iconic heavy metal band Metallica was “potentially” hacked late Tuesday in a brazen cyber attack. The hackers used the account to promote a fraudulent Solana meme coin named $METAL.

Despite quick action to remove the fake tweets, the scam saw over $10 million in trading volume before the token’s value crashed. This incident adds to a growing trend of celebrity account hijackings to push pump-and-dump schemes, with MoonPay and Ticketmaster falsely implicated in the scam.

Metallica’s Hacked Account Promotes Fake Solana Token

The official X account of legendary heavy metal band Metallica was hacked late Tuesday and used to promote a fraudulent Solana meme coin named $METAL. This incident is the newest celebrity account hacking aimed at pushing pump-and-dump schemes disguised as legitimate crypto opportunities.

The hacked tweets included a Twitter Spaces audio call and interactions with other users, which were deleted within 90 minutes. Despite the swift removal, the fake $METAL token garnered over $10 million in trading volume before experiencing a drastic crash.

The scammers falsely claimed that the token was launched in partnership with Ticketmaster and MoonPay, offering holders discounts on tickets and merchandise.

Given the frequency of such scams, the crypto community quickly identified the tweets as fraudulent. The initial post had falsely claimed a partnership with Ticketmaster, facilitated through the Solana-based token deployer pump.fun. Ticketmaster has not commented on the matter.

🚨 Pls be careful. 🚨

MoonPay does NOT support $METAL on @solana.

— Keith A. Grossman (@KeithGrossman) June 26, 2024

However, MoonPay President Keith Grossman immediately discredited the claims, asserting that $METAL was not supported on their platform.

“MoonPay does NOT support METAL.”

The scammers responded by falsely stating they had communicated with MoonPay via email. MoonPay then directly warned users, humorously referencing Metallica’s famous song, “Master of Puppets,” to call out the scam:

“Anyone offering the $METAL token is not the master of puppets, they’re the master of scams.”

In response, the hackers blocked MoonPay on Metallica’s account.

During its brief surge, the $METAL token saw over 30,000 transactions, with its price peaking at $0.003. It soon plummeted to below $0.00007, leaving the token’s market cap at just $65,000.

Metallica’s team quickly regained control of their X account and deleted all posts about the $METAL token. To further ascertain their fans, Metallica X account retweeted MoonPay’s president tweet discrediting the fake Solana meme coin.

Despite scammers’ promises of redeemable concert tickets and exclusive merchandise, the $METAL token’s value collapsed almost immediately after the scam was revealed.

The method used to breach Metallica’s account remains unknown, and the band’s management has not yet commented.

The Broader Trend Of Celebrity Tokens

This scam targeting Metallica is part of a broader trend where high-profile accounts are exploited to promote fraudulent tokens. The most recent one involved Pop icon Jason Derulo, who faced criticism after promoting the meme coin JASON. Shortly after its release, JASON plummeted by over 72%, causing significant losses for investors.

Despite Derulo’s attempts to distance himself from the fallout by blaming Sahil Arora, a figure linked to previous crypto scandals, and pledging to invest more in the coin.

Influential figures like SlumDOGE Millionaire and ZachXBT have criticized Derulo’s involvement, questioning his awareness and intentions regarding the coin’s rapid duation.

This influencer trend situation is complicated as several celebrities have recently launched legitimate tokens, with the majority in collaboration with crypto promoter Sahil Arora, who has also been involved in controversial meme coin launches with other celebrities like Iggy Azalea and Caitlyn Jenner.

Notably, celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and Rich The Kid, who were also linked to Arora’s crypto ventures, have condemned his actions and are pursuing legal action against him.

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