Key Takeaways
- Sydney Sweeney’s X account was compromised and used to promote SWEENY.
- After surging by more than 2,500%, the price of SWEENY collapsed as the token deployer rug-pulled.
- Iggy Azalea commented on the incident after the hacker referenced MOTHER.
Sydney Sweeney is the latest victim of the trend for celebrity crypto scams which has seen social media accounts belonging to Sweeny, 50 Cent, Hulk Hogan and Metallica hacked and used to promote dubious meme coins.
Responding to the incident, Iggy Azalea appeared to make light of the pump and dump scheme, which defrauded victims out of $13 million worth of crypto.
Celebrity X Hackers Strike Again
In the case of Sweeny’s X account, hackers gained control of her profile on Wednesday, July 3, and used it to shill the counterfeit Solana (SOL) meme coin SWEENEY.
Within two hours of Sweeney’s alleged endorsement, the token’s price went up by over 2,500%. However, it quickly crashed back down as the contract owner withdrew their liquidity and disappeared.
The event echoes similar social media breaches that have affected 50 Cent and Hulk Hogan in recent weeks.
In 50 Cent’s case, the rapper claims hackers who compromised his X account walked away with $3 million from a fraudulent token called GUNIT. Similarly, Hogan’s social media accounts and website were recently exploited to promote HULK, a meme coin that temporarily surged after he appeared to advocate it before subsequently tanking.
According to Satoshi Club, the same hacker was behind all three incidents but they didn’t provide any evidence to back up their claim.
However, one factor that does support the thesis that all three exploits are connected. In each case, the compromised social media accounts
Iggy Azalea at Center of Celebrity Meme Coin Storm
Significantly, there is one factor that does support the thesis that the HULK and SWEENEY exploits are connected. In both cases, the compromised social media accounts referenced Iggy Azalea.
One X post made by Hogan’s account replied to Azalea, saying, “You suck at pumping. $HULK has the real milk.”
Meanwhile, Sweeny’s account posted a comment declaring: “sorry @IGGYAZALEA you have nothing on me”.
Both posts appear to be a reference to Azalea’s Mother Iggy (MOTHER) token, which has emerged as among the most prominent of the latest generation of celebrity meme coins.
Sahil Arora Behind Latest Scams?
While a connection hasn’t been confirmed, the recent celebrity pump-and-dump schemes have the hallmark of notorious token rugger Sahil Arora.
https://twitter.com/PaemayNFT/status/1795295208185516216
According to the X user Paemay, Arora has rugged millions of dollars from various crypto projects during his 7-year career as a crypto grifter. His latest scam tactic involves launching celebrity-themed meme coins on pump.fun, the same platform that was used for HULK and SWEENY. Celebrities whose name Arora has previously used to peddle dodgy meme coins include Kaitlin Jenner and, before the launch of MOTHER, Iggy Azalea herself.
Right before HULK collapsed in value and all related social media posts were deleted, Hogan’s Instagram account posted an image of Iggy Azalea with the caption “Sahil does it best.”
After Arora’s X account was suspended earlier this week, Azalea celebrated the news, writing that “Karma can be a bitch.”
James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
