The proliferation of meme coins in the cryptocurrency market has been undeniably rapid, and with this surge, scams have also increased at an alarming rate. In a recent incident, the social media accounts of the former Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, were commandeered by anonymous hackers to promote a counterfeit meme coin named MALAYSIA. This incident underscores the increasing trend of cybercriminals capitalizing on the popularity of political figures to facilitate their fraudulent activities.
Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, found his online presence manipulated as his social media accounts began promoting the MALAYSIA coin. The fraudulent posts claimed that this new cryptocurrency marked a significant milestone in showcasing the strength of Malaysia’s people and its burgeoning digital economy.
Although the dubious post was removed within an hour, the aftermath was significant. Preliminary analysis suggests that the cybercriminals behind this attack are likely associated with Evil Corp, a notorious Russian hacking group. The hackers reportedly made off with $1.7 million in this “rug pull,” a term used to describe a type of scam where developers abandon a project and run off with investors’ funds.
Data from GeckoTreminal shows that the market cap of the bogus token skyrocketed to $1.7 million within just 15 minutes of the counterfeit tweet. Just as quickly, it collapsed, with the hackers liquidating their ill-gotten gains in under an hour.
This MALAYSIA scam is just the latest in a concerning trend of counterfeit political meme coins. Ever since the TRUMP token was used to defraud investors of a staggering $857 million, there has been an uptick in similar incidents. In another case, the social media account of a former Brazilian President was hacked to promote a fraudulent token.
Other non-political scams aren’t falling behind either. Crypto investigator ZachXBT revealed that Coinbase users have lost an estimated $150 million to scammers. Similarly, Scam Sniffer reported a 2000% surge in phishing attacks based on the Telegram platform since November.
The alarming trend indicates that these scams are far from over. Analysts have speculated that the rise of meme coins has drastically impacted the altcoin season by diverting capital investment and community interest towards this sector. If meme coins continue to hold sway over the crypto market, it is likely that fraudulent tokens will continue to attract speculative investments. As such, investors must exercise increased caution and due diligence when navigating the increasingly complex world of cryptocurrency.
