Wiz Khalifa’s Twitter account appears to have been hacked in an attempt to plant a counterfeit coin on unsuspecting followers.
In a now-deleted post, hackers used Wiz’s account to promote a new token, prompting a swift response from the crypto community.
Network investigator ZachXBT was the first to respond: warning users: “Don’t buy this, his account has been hacked.” He added: “This is the same scammer who recently hacked Andy Airey.”
SIM swapping attack leads to major fraud
Airey, the creator of Truth Terminal, an artificial intelligence-powered cryptocurrency bot, had been hacked just days earlier. His Twitter account (X) was compromised, allowing hackers to promote a fraudulent meme token and conduct a massive pump and dump.
This recent Wiz account breach has heightened security concerns, especially given the tactics hackers are using to exploit high-profile cryptocurrency accounts.
Hackers used a SIM card swap to take over Airey’s account. SIM swapping allows hackers to gain control of a victim’s phone number, which they then use to reset passwords and access associated accounts.
Once inside the account, the hackers promoted a token called Infinite Backrooms (IB), hyping it so much that its market capitalization skyrocketed to $25 million in a matter of hours.
As part of the scheme, the hackers initially purchased 124.6 million IB tokens for approximately $38,400. As the stock in Airy’s account caused the price to skyrocket, they quickly dumped their tokens, taking $602,500 in 45 minutes.
After the damage was done, all posts related to the scam were deleted from Airey’s account, but by then it was too late for affected investors.
The hack left Airey’s portfolio and the broader meme coin market in ruins. The Truth Terminal, known for storing millions of meme coins, was hit hard. One of the hardest hit was GOAT, a Solana-based meme coin that was gaining traction.
After the hack, the token price fell by 34.5%. Just ten days ago, GOAT was trading at a high of $0.8788 but fell to $0.4686, signaling that investor confidence in meme coins has suffered due to this incident.
