Hackers exploited Dean Norris’ X account for a crypto scam, photoshopping images and using Cameo clips to fuel credibility.
Dean Norris, best known for his role in Breaking Bad, has become the target of hackers again.
His X account was recently compromised to promote a fraudulent meme coin named DEAN.
Details from the Exploit
An X user who shared a screenshot of the deleted posts described the incident as one of the “most believable” scams they had ever seen on the platform.
The attack began with a tweet from Norris’s official account on the social media platform, which falsely announced the creation of his cryptocurrency. The post stated, “I have decided to launch my own crypto coin named Dean,” and included a contract address for the fake token.
To make the scam appear credible, the hackers also shared a photoshopped image of Norris holding a notepad with the token’s launch date and the ticker symbol “$DEAN.”
The perpetrators also circulated a manipulated video in which the actor appeared to confirm the launch date.
In the five-second clip, he was saying, “Hey, it’s me, Dean, and uh… January 25th, I’m declaring it’s real.” It was later revealed that the criminals had used Cameo, a platform where subscribers can pay celebrities for personalized video messages, to produce the misleading clip.
On January 26, Norris regained control of his profile and posted a video addressing the situation:
“This is Dean Norris actually, and that whole crazy crypto sh*t was a complete fake scam. I was hacked, and I don’t know, I just got it back,” he explained.
However, by then, several victims had already seen and acted upon the bogus announcement. Blockchain data from DEX Screener revealed that the DEAN token reached a market cap of $8.4 million on January 25. However, its value has since plummeted to $53,000.
Despite the 61-year-old’s attempts to clear his name, many in the community blamed him for making it easier for hackers to manipulate what they thought was his official Telegram channel, “DeanNorrisofficial.”
In a subsequent statement, the star clarified that he doesn’t have a Telegram account, rarely uses X, and was unaware he had been compromised. He also denied accusations from Reddit claiming he launched the coin for a “pump and dump” scheme.
A Pattern of Targeting Celebrities
This marks the second time the TV star’s account has been exploited. In September 2024, his social media profile was used to promote another fake token, SCHRADER, based on his Breaking Bad character, which was hosted on the TRON blockchain.
The September incident was also part of a larger hacking spree uncovered by blockchain investigator ZachXBT in November. The situation involved as many as 15 popular accounts on X and Instagram, including those of singer Usher and rapper Wiz Khalifa.
Bad actors used these profiles to promote counterfeit meme coins on the Pump.fun platform, collectively stealing as much as $3.5 million.
Earlier in the year, several accounts belonging to major players in the crypto space, including Litecoin, Foresight Ventures, and Holoworld AI, were compromised and used to push scam tokens.
In the latest incident of the same nature, hackers gained control of Nasdaq’s X account and used it to promote a fake meme coin called STONKS, causing its market cap to rise to $80 million before they rugged it.