Hackers seized Curtis Jackson, alias 50 Cent’s Twitter, to promote a fraudulent Solana token called GUNIT. The pump-and-dump scam resulted in a $300 million loss before people could realize it. 50 Cent took to his Instagram to acknowledge his compromise.
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With many celebrities launching their meme coins in the past few weeks, it seemed reasonable that 50 Cent would take to his social media to shill his Solana coin. On Friday afternoon, his Twitter account was flooded with posts about the new Solana coin. Investors lost millions of dollars worth of crypto within minutes before the truth emerged. Fraudsters hacked his account for a pump-and-dump scam.
Hackers post promotional content on 50 Cent’s Twitter
Rapper 50 Cent’s Twitter account made multiple tweets promoting GUNIT on Friday. The GUNIT token is a new Solana coin launched through Pump.fun. The posts were detailed, with some referencing the rapper’s cognac brand. The attackers also touched on recent celebrity-related stories, such as Andrew Tate’s DADDY Coin promotion.
There are reports that rapper 50 Cent's social media accounts were hacked and used to promote a memecoin $GUNIT while disparaging another coin. Some sources claim this alleged token, possibly tied to 50 Cent, was "rugged," meaning its value was manipulated by the creators to… pic.twitter.com/mT7E6vUE7h
— CryptoCoins68 (@CryptoCoins68) June 22, 2024
Money started flowing into GUNIT’s coffers within minutes of the posts. The GUNIT token had a trading volume of $18.6 million, most of which streamed in within 40 minutes. It skyrocketed in value by 8,000% for some minutes before plunging. Within a short time, GUNIT’s liquidity drastically reduced, raising suspicion.
The rush investment soon started making sense. Many meme coins launched via Pump.fun skyrocketed in value with just a celebrity endorsement. Last week, the Andrew Tate-promoted DADDY coin rose from nothing to a $340 million market capitalization. Iggy Azalea’s MOTHER token also hit a huge market cap almost as fast as Tate’s.
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50 Cent warns the public about his hacked socials
The posts appeared convincing to some traders. 50 Cent noticed his compromised Twitter and announced it through his Instagram handle. He also confirmed that his website was also compromised.
“My Twitter was hacked, I have no association with this crypto. Twitter worked quickly to lock my account back down. Whoever did this made away with $300,000,000 in 30 minutes.“
-Rapper 50 Cent
The rapper tagged his cognac brand in his IG post, just like the hackers did with the GUNIT posts. This was a show of the fraudster’s attention to detail. X (formerly Twitter) then locked his account to stop the hackers from taking further action. The hackers’ posts are currently inaccessible on Twitter.
Shortly after 50 Cent’s revelation, the attacker’s scheme started falling apart. New purchases continued flowing as some investors were yet to realize it was another rug pull. The coin’s current market capitalization is about $ 150,000. According to 50 Cent’s Instagram post, the hacker made away with $300 million. Still, the token only hit a minute fraction of the market cap during its peak.
50 Cent is not the first celebrity to fall victim to hackers during this celebrity meme coin season. Earlier this month, professional wrestler Hulk Hogan became a victim of a similar exploitation. Hackers seized his Twitter account to hype a new HULK token. The token achieved a trading volume of $82 million within a day.
Cryptopolitan reporting by Collins J. Okoth
