For now, the identity of the hackers who gained access to Khalifa’s X account remains unknown.
Recent activity on the X (formerly Twitter) account of popular rapper Wiz Khalifa suggests that it may have been hacked. On November 3, the account, which has a following of over 35.7 million individuals, posted a scam meme coin. Though the post has now been deleted, the hackers impersonated Khalifa, saying he had been “working with my team to drop WIZ for all the crypto fans”.
Once the WIZ meme coin launched on the Solana-based meme coin launchpad Pump.fun, it took no more than 15 minutes to surge to a peak of $3.4 million.
Unfortunately, the hype did not last. By the next hour, the market capitalization had dropped below $28,000 as early holders dumped large sums of the token.
As data from DEX Screener suggests, WIZ is currently changing hands at $8,400.
Key Profit Makers and Suspicion of Repeat Attacks
Meanwhile, reports suggest that two wallets may have made significant profits off the WIZ token. According to data from Solscan, the wallets were able to make a combined profit of $160,000. That is, after purchasing a little above 155 million WIZ tokens at a low entry cost of $19,100 right after the launch. These wallets were quick to sell the tokens at a much higher price before the token value crashed. However, such a tactic is not exactly uncommon in “pump-and-dump” scams.
For now, the identity of the hackers who gained access to Khalifa’s X account remains unknown. However, blockchain investigator ZachXBT has a theory around the attack. The analyst claims that the same hacker may have been responsible for another high-profile account takeover.
On October 29, the account of Truth Terminal developer Andy Ayrey was compromised and used to promote fake meme coins. The scheme ended up seeing the hackers make away with around $1.5 million in a similar pump-and-dump fashion.
In light of this, ZachXBT warned his followers on Telegram not to buy the WIZ token, linking this incident to the recent Ayrey hack.
No Official Statement from Khalifa’s Team
As of now, there hasn’t been any new post on Wiz Khalifa’s account. Neither have there been any official statements. So, fans remain unclear about whether or not Khalifa’s team has regained control of the account.
Whatever the case might be, more questions are now being raised as to how celebrities’ accounts are managed to prevent such scams.
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