In a shocking incident, hackers took control of McDonald’s official Instagram account on August 21, using it to promote a fraudulent memecoin and making off with over $700,000 in Solana. The hackers capitalized on the fast-food giant's massive social media following to push a sham token based on McDonald’s purple mascot, Grimace.

The scam unfolded as McDonald’s Instagram account, with over 5.1 million followers, posted multiple messages claiming that the memecoin was a “McDonald’s experiment on Solana.” However, it was far from legitimate. Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps revealed that the hacker deployed Solana memecoin pump.fun to secure 75% of the Grimace token’s total supply, distributing it across approximately 100 different wallets.

Within just 30 minutes, the memecoin’s market capitalization surged to $25 million, driven by the official promotion. However, the excitement was short-lived as the hacker quickly dumped the tokens, causing the coin’s value to plummet to just $650,000 within 40 minutes. In the end, the hacker pocketed $700,000 in Solana.

In a brazen move, the hacker altered McDonald’s Instagram bio to boast about the heist, writing, “Sorry mah n-gga you have just been rug pulled by India_X_Kr3w thank you for the $700,000 in Solana.” The fraudulent posts and bio have since been removed.

McDonald’s acknowledged the breach, stating, “We have resolved the issue on those accounts and apologize to our fans for any offensive language posted during that time.”

This incident serves as a stark reminder of the risks associated with social media security and the potential for exploitation in the rapidly evolving world of cryptocurrency.