French football star Kylian Mbappé found himself at the center of a cryptocurrency scam on Thursday after hackers gained control of his X account. The hackers used the compromised account to promote a fraudulent token called $MBAPPE, which saw a rapid rise and fall in value, leaving some investors with significant losses.
Token Surge and Collapse: Investor Gains and Losses
The incident began when hackers accessed Mbappé’s X account and posted a series of promotional threads about the newly created $MBAPPE token. These posts quickly garnered attention, causing the token’s market value to skyrocket to tens of millions within a few minutes. However, the surge was short-lived, as the token’s value shortly plummeted to zero, revealing the scam.
Despite the chaos, an investor managed to profit from the situation. According to sources, the user invested 2 SOL, equivalent to about $286, into the $MBAPPE token. When the token peaked, the investor sold it and secured a profit of approximately 1,398 SOL, or around $200,000.
Previous Crypto Scams Linked to Mbappé’s Account
While this individual benefited from the volatility, many others were less fortunate. Some investors, unaware of the scam, suffered significant losses. A crypto investor reportedly lost over $1 million within an hour after buying the fraudulent token.
The $MBAPPE token was created using Pump. fun, a platform known for its easy and quick memecoin deployment. The Solana-based tool allows users to launch new tokens with minimal effort, making it a popular choice for scammers looking to capitalize on unsuspecting investors.
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The speed at which the $MBAPPE token’s value surged and collapsed raised suspicions among the crypto community. Within moments, people began to realize the true nature of the situation and sounded the alarm on social media. The promotional posts were subsequently deleted, but the damage had already been done.
This incident is not the first time. Mbappé’s X account has been compromised for several unethical purposes. In 2019 and 2020, hackers used his account to promote Bitcoin scams, luring investors with promises of quick returns. The rising frequency of such crypto hacks is alarming. Reportedly, 16 major crypto hacks in July alone resulted in losses totaling $266 million.
