Hackers took over the official X accounts of SpaceX and Starlink on March 13 to promote a fraudulent memecoin called SCATMAN, making off with about $108,000 in Ethereum before the posts were removed. On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain tracked the scam, which involved minting 10 trillion tokens and dumping them on buyers.
The Attack and Rug Pull
The compromised accounts, with a combined 3.6 million followers, posted promotional content for the SCATMAN token. As victims bought the memecoin, the hackers sold their holdings, pocketing roughly $108,000 worth of ETH. A second wallet linked to the scam sold an additional 59.28 million SCATMAN for $27,000 in ETH, according to Lookonchain.
Implications for Security
The swift execution of the attack underscores the vulnerability of high-profile social media accounts to social engineering and account takeovers. Security researchers noted the rapid movement of ETH following the promotions. Ethereum was trading at $1,763 at the time of writing, down 3% in the past 24 hours. The incident highlights ongoing risks in the cryptocurrency space, where celebrity and corporate accounts are often hijacked to promote scams.