Wiz Khalifa’s X account was compromised yesterday, leading to a fraudulent cryptocurrency promotion. The hackers, exploiting the rapper’s vast following of 35.7 million, used his platform to push a fake digital currency named “$WIZ.”
This deceptive tactic initially yielded significant results. The newly launched $WIZ token surged in value, reaching a peak of $3.4 million. However, this rapid ascent was short-lived. As awareness of the scam spread, investors began to offload their tokens, causing the value to plummet to less than $28,000 within an hour.
The hackers’ misleading post on Khalifa’s account claimed the rapper was “working with [his] team to drop $WIZ for all the crypto fans.” This deceptive message sparked alarm within the cryptocurrency community.
Fortunately, blockchain investigator ZachXBT issued a timely warning, alerting users to the fraudulent nature of the $WIZ token and highlighting the involvement of the same hacker group responsible for a similar attack on Andy Ayrey’s account on October 29. This previous scam, involving the promotion of fake tokens, netted the hackers approximately $1.5 million.
Data analysis revealed that two primary wallets acquired over 155 million WIZ tokens for a mere $19,100, subsequently selling them for a profit of around $160,000.
While the exact method used to breach Khalifa’s account remains uncertain, SIM swapping is a likely culprit. This technique involves hackers gaining control of a person’s phone number, enabling them to reset passwords and access various accounts.
Ayrey’s account was compromised using the same method, leading to the promotion of the Infinite Backrooms (IB) token, which experienced a meteoric rise to a $25 million valuation before the hackers liquidated their holdings.
As of now, it’s unclear whether Khalifa has regained control of his account. However, the posts promoting the fraudulent $WIZ coin have been removed.