$500K Phishing Scam Targeting Solana Memecoin Investors Revealed

The cryptocurrency landscape, despite its innovation and profit potential, is also a breeding ground for malicious activity. Recently, a sophisticated phishing operation came to light, exposing the vulnerability of investors, especially those focused on cryptocurrency-based memecoins. Solana (SOL). Blockchain researcher ZachXBT has uncovered the scheme, exposing an estimated $500.000 in losses and compromising more than 15 accounts on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

ZachXBT’s investigation, released on December 24, details how the criminals posed as the X team and used phishing sites to gain unauthorized access to high-profile accounts, some with more than 200.000 followers. The strategy involved sending fake copyright infringement notices, creating a sense of urgency in victims and tricking them into visiting the fraudulent sites. On these sites, victims were asked to reset their two-factor authentication (2FA) or passwords, handing over their credentials to the hackers.

With the compromised accounts in hand, the criminals then proceeded to launch scams targeting meme coin enthusiasts. To make it harder to track, the cybercriminals attempted to obscure their operations by transferring the stolen funds between the Solana and Ethereum networks. “Each of the 15 ATOs was directly connected by mapping the implementer address to each scam. The attacker bridged Solana and Ethereum in an attempt to obfuscate the funding source,” the detective said.

High-profile accounts affected include Kick, Cursor, The Arena, Brett, and Alex Blania. The first reported incident occurred on November 26, involving RuneMine, while the most recent one targeted Kick on December 24.

“A criminal stole approximately $500 last month by compromising over 15 X accounts (Kick, Cursor, Alex Blania, The Arena, Brett, etc.) by sending targeted phishing emails impersonating the X team to steal credentials and then launch meme coin scams,” wrote .

This case serves as a warning to the crypto community about the importance of online security and information verification. The sophistication of the operation demonstrates the need for caution when interacting with online links and requests, especially those involving sensitive information.