Crypto scams driven by social engineering soared in 2024, with analysts warning that scammers are increasingly targeting celebrities and tech leaders.
In a Feb. 11 research report, analysts at blockchain forensic firm Merkle Science revealed that in 2024, scammers targeted high-profile figures by hacking their accounts. After gaining access, they quickly promoted fake token launches created on Pump.fun, a platform for minting tokens on Solana.
One such incident was the Aug. 29 hack of soccer star Kylian Mbappé’s X account. The attacker promoted a fake MBAPPE meme coin on Solana, which quickly hit a $460 million market cap before collapsing and leaving investors with over $1 million in losses.
“By compromising influential figures and trusted platforms, hackers exploit credibility to manipulate investors at scale.”
Merkle Science
In total, the New York-headquartered firm identified 36 cases of such scams last year. Celebrities were the most targeted cohort, making up 33% of cases, the report reads. Tech figures and tech companies followed, making up 30% and 19% of cases, respectively. Government agencies and consumer brands were rarely hit, each making up just 5% of incidents. On average, victims had 2.3 million followers, the firm notes.
Most attacks occurred on X as the social network accounted for 75% of all cases. YouTube accounted for 19% and official website hacks for 5%, with scammers using tactics like phishing links and bypassing two-factor authentication, according to Merkle Science. The two main scam types were rug pulls and phishing, both making up 88% of all crypto-related attacks that occurred in 2024.
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