McDonald’s Instagram Hacked To Promote Solana Meme Coin GRIMACE

Fast-food chain McDonald’s suffered a breach on its Instagram account with bad actors promoting a Solana-based meme coin. The company’s marketing director also made a related post on his X (formerly Twitter) account suspected of being hacked. Users bemoan the frequent crypto-related scams in the market citing a drop in sentiments.

McDonald’s Instagram Hacked

The Instagram account of McDonald’s suffered a hacking incident that saw the bad actor posting a Solana meme coin, GRIMACE. The hacker claimed that the company issued the meme coin on Solana sparking diverse community reactions. The value of the asset spiked within the hour of the post before losing momentum subsequently. 

INTEL: A hacker who took control of McDonald’s Instagram account has executed a rug pull with a $SOL-based scam token and is now targeting KFC

— Solid Intel 📡 (@solidintel_x) August 21, 2024

Furthermore, Guillaume Huin, the fast food’s Marketing Director also made a related post on X about the GRIMACE token. The hacker further urged users to drop their Instagram handles to get followed back by the company’s official account.

“If you’re a holder of $GRIMACE, drop your Instagram handles below, and we will follow you on the official McDonalds account. We love and appreciate all the support of Grimace.” 

Both posts on Instagram and X have been deleted signaling restoration of the platform’s social accounts. This year, Solana meme coins have notched uphill momentum around the token fueled by the wider market drive in Q1 2024. The growth of these tokens has seen a sharp spike in smaller tokens as users move to make quick gains. However, the general market sentiments affect meme coins leading to price falls in bear markets. 

Hackers Claim $700,000

Sequel to the incident, the hackers changed the McDonald’s Instagram account bio informing users of the rug pull stating they made $700,000 worth of SOL. Several crypto users criticized the bad actors noting that these moves attract a negative light to the crypto ecosystem.

The crypto market has faced multiple phishing attacks and other forms of scams with social media accounts of top platforms targeted. Due to these, global regulators have taken a tough stance on the market leading to widespread lawsuits against crypto firms to protect investors.