In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, a large-scale fraud shook the world of cryptocurrency and football when a hacker took control of Kylian Mbappé’s X account, recently transferred to Real Madrid.
The hacker exploited the player’s notoriety to promote a memecoin based on the Solana blockchain, called $MBAPPE and launched using Pump.fun. The attack not only deceived many fans and investors but also caused massive financial losses in just a few hours.
A trap yet obvious: the famous double gains promise
The scam unfolded in a classic but effective manner. The hacker posted a message from Mbappé’s account, promising to double any amount sent to a specific crypto address. This type of fraud, known as a “giveaway scam”, attracted many investors, especially due to the apparent involvement of an international football star. Mbappé’s credibility and the allure of quick gains were enough to convince several people to participate in what seemed like a golden opportunity.
But the real trap lay in the promotion of a Solana memecoin, launched through the Pump.Fun platform…
Massive losses and opportunistic gains
Unfortunately, for many, this “opportunity” turned into a financial nightmare. One trader lost over 1 million dollars by buying the fraudulent token $MBAPPE, which briefly reached a theoretical market capitalization of $460 million before collapsing within hours to less than $100,000. According to the on-chain intelligence firm Lookonchain, this trader invested 7,156 SOL (about 1.03 million dollars) to acquire the token in a single transaction, realizing afterwards that its value had plummeted to just a few thousand dollars.
However, not all investors were as unlucky. Some, more savvy, managed to profit from this scam before the price collapsed. An anonymous trader turned a $28 investment into $124,000 by selling their tokens at the right time.
Prominent companies in the cryptocurrency sector, such as Crypto.com, have issued warnings to deter investors from falling for this fraudulent token.
A recurring story: celebrities as prime targets
This is not the first time a celebrity account has been hacked to promote fraudulent tokens. This type of attack is on the rise, especially with the emergence of platforms like pump.fun, which make it easy to deploy new tokens on the blockchain. Over the past few months, personalities such as 50Cent, Hulk Hogan, Doja Cat, and even companies like McDonald’s have had their accounts hacked in similar circumstances.
Consequences and reactions
The incident sparked strong reactions on social media. Many users quickly noticed the unusual series of posts published on Mbappé’s account, which not only promoted the $MBAPPE token but also addressed controversial topics involving football teams like Manchester United and players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. All the posts were quickly deleted, but the damage had already been done.
