Metallica’s X Account Hacked to Promote Fake Solana Token $METAL, MoonPay Warns
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.
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.
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