An investor lost $1.03M in $MBAPPE after hackers used Mbappé’s fame to inflate its value.
On Thursday, a crypto scam involving a dubious meme coin, $MBAPPE, shocked the cryptocurrency world. The scam unfolded when hackers hijacked French soccer star Kylian Mbappé’s X account to promote the token.
Lured by the false hype, one investor poured 7,156 SOL (worth $1.03 million) into $MBAPPE. But the joy was short-lived. The coin’s value plummeted to a mere $9,200, erasing nearly the entire investment in an hour.
In a shocking twist, the fraudulent $MBAPPE token was created using Pump.fun, a platform known for its easy and cheap meme coin creation. Hackers took advantage of Mbappé’s fame, posting enthusiastic promotions that caused the coin’s value to skyrocket briefly.
A savvy investor transformed a mere $29 into an astounding $125,000 in just three minutes by trading a meme coin. On August 29, Lookonchain shared the remarkable story of how a trader hit the jackpot with the MBAPPE token, a cryptocurrency initially mistaken to be linked to French football star Kylian Mbappé.
The trader started by purchasing MBAPPE tokens with 0.2 Solana (SOL), which was worth $29 at the time. Just three minutes later, the tokens were sold for a whopping 866.13 SOL, equivalent to approximately $125,160. This incredible feat represents a mind-blowing 4,330% return on investment.
Over the past month, the trader dabbled in 251 different meme coins, investing as little as 0.1, 0.2, or 0.3 SOL in each. Despite the risky nature of this approach, the trader managed a 35.46% win rate, amassing total profits of $126,700.
Interestingly, some savvy traders did manage to profit. A Chinese journalist, Colin Wu, reported that another investor turned a modest 2 SOL ($286) into about 1,398 SOL ($200,000) by selling at the coin’s peak.
The promotional tweets have since been deleted, but the damage was done. The scam exposed how easily high-profile accounts can be exploited to manipulate the crypto market. As the $MBAPPE token’s value dropped to zero, the cryptocurrency community was left to question the ethics and security of digital investments.