Hackers impersonating Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince used a compromised X account to promote a fake memecoin, KSA, which quickly failed. This incident is part of a growing trend where attackers exploit social media accounts to launch fraudulent crypto schemes.
Hackers that said they were Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman released a fake memecoin called KSA on February 17. The announcement was made on the Saudi Law Conference’s X account. The conference later admitted that someone had hacked into its account.
Reports raised worries about the token’s unclear purpose, how it works, and the fact that it doesn’t have any official support. These worries were proven when the Saudi Law Conference said it had nothing to do with the posts that were made on its hacked account.
“We confirm that we are working urgently to recover the account, and we fully disclaim any unofficial publications issued through it during this period. We also apologize to our followers for any inconvenience this may cause, and urge everyone to be cautious and not interact with any suspicious content published through the account until further notice,” the Saudi Law Conference wrote on Linkedin.
The launch of KSA was supposed to happen on February 17, but blockchain data shows that its contract was made a week earlier on the Solana-based memecoin site pump.fun.
Even though the Crown Prince’s name was used to trick investors, the KSA memecoin didn’t catch on. Within hours, its market cap fell below $8,000.
Hackers are increasingly using the social media accounts of well-known people to push fake memecoin. This case is part of a growing trend. Since January, many fake tokens have been released through accounts that were hacked, causing users to lose millions of dollars before they can get back in.
