The crypto market has become the center of attention, with the price of Bitcoin targeting the $100,000 mark. However, another incident is also attracting investors’ attention these days. A famous crypto investigator, ZachXBT, has uncovered a major crypto scam, linking a professional gamer to a $3.5 million meme coin scam. More importantly, these scams were also linked to celebrity social media account hacks, fraudulent promotions, and much more.
At one point, the crypto industry had made a name for itself among the largest financial entities, with a global market capitalization of $3.31 billion. However, the increase in cryptocurrency scams, thefts and laundering is concerning. Even Changpeng Zhao showed his disappointment with memecoin and growing scams.
ZachXBT Exposes $3.5 Million MemeCoin Scam and the Culprit
In 2024, the crypto market has faced numerous wallet hacks, rug pulling scams, and many other concerning scams. However, hacks of celebrity accounts and promotion of cryptocurrency scams were the most common.
Considering the rising case, a popular crypto investigator, ZachXBT, analyzed nine celebrity account hacks and the meme coins involved. He concluded that there is a connection between all these hacks. More importantly, he claimed that a pro-Fortnite player known as Serpent was the mastermind behind it all.
ZachXBT linked this pro gamer to the $3.5 million memecoin scam, confirming that he used multiple Pump.Fun memecoin and pump and dump tactics to make millions. Surprisingly, the most important link was the Serpent’s ERROR project wallet, which directly or indirectly interacted with the wallets of all social media hackers.
1/ An investigation into how threat actor Serpent went from being a professional Fortnite player to helping steal $3.5 million via coin scams launched from over 9 accounts compromise on X and IG and play the profits in online casinos. https://t.co/zR6QtuQW8a pic.twitter.com/Y8ovnEnQgj
-ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 27, 2024
Serpent is known as a professional gamer and blockchain security analyst. He is even the founder of Sentinel, a threat mitigation system, but new reports link him to the scam, making it a big controversy. More importantly, he swindled $3.5 million and gambled it away at online casinos. The controversy intensified when Serpent deleted several of his X-rated posts right after ZachXBT’s claims.
Dismantling the Serpent Crypto Scam
In a detailed article, ZachXBT revealed his discovery to the crypto community, which explained memecoin scams worth over $3.5 million after the scammer compromised various celebrity social media accounts. It includes account hacks of McDonald’s, Usher, Kabosu Owner, Andy Ayrey, Wiz Khalifa, SPX 6900, etc. X (Twitter) and Instagram.
The McDonald’s Instagram hack was among the first hacks of the year, where the scammer promoted a memecoin called GRIMACE and made over $690,000 through the pump and dump tactic. This happened on August 21 and the person transferred the funds to two main crypto wallets. The crypto scammer transferred 101.5 SOL to two addresses on September 3 and deployed the SCHRADER token. Interestingly, this token was promoted when actor Dean Norris X’s account was hacked.
Additionally, on September 6, the scammer processed Mcdonald’s ATO to a casino deposit address whose starting address was B2fw. This same account transferred 110 Sol to two new wallet addresses on September 12 and recovered the meme coins that were used in the Usher crypto hack. The same B2fw wallet transferred 4868 SOL to the ECb5v casino deposit address, which is connected to Andy Ayrey and the Enoshima Aquarium hack on October 15. On the same day, 84 SOLs were transferred to ECb5v.
Even the popular AI robot Truth Terminal owner’s X account was hacked on October 29, which remained compromised for days. During this period, 6 memecoins were promoted on his account. All this involved a common 3GVUs wallet, and the same wallet transferred 169 SOL to Ecb5vs on October 30. However, this is only the middle, the list is long for others.
Conclusion
Meme-themed cryptocurrencies have captured the attention of investors in 2024, where many have offered large gains, mainly the Solana Coins. As a result, millions of Solana-based meme tokens were launched this year on Pump. Fun, but many have been misused for crypto scams. Through its recent investigation, ZachXBT has revealed the person behind the $3.5 million meme coin scam. The scams also involved hacking celebrity accounts and promoting tokens to increase their price and dump them all. In this way, the scammer or alleged pro-Fortnite player Serpent made big returns, but others suffered losses.
Pooja Khardia
With a deep-rooted passion for reading and five years of experience in content writing, Pooja is now focused on creating trending content in the cryptocurrency market. As a dedicated crypto journalist, Pooja is constantly on the lookout for trending topics and informative statistics to create compelling articles for crypto enthusiasts. Keeping up with the latest trends and advances in the field is an integral part of his daily routine, fueling his commitment to providing timely and insightful coverage.
Disclaimer: Content presented may include the author’s personal opinion and is subject to market conditions. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or publication assumes no responsibility for your personal financial loss.
✓ Share: