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Journalist
Hassan Shittu
Journalist
Hassan Shittu
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Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is the latest high-profile victim of a crypto scam, as hackers hijacked his X account to promote a fraudulent meme coin.
Yu Xian, the founder of cybersecurity firm SlowMist, revealed that Mahathir’s compromised account was used to shill a token called MALAYSIA.
The fraudulent promotion led to a rapid market cap surge, peaking at $3.4 million before collapsing to a mere $153,000.
This is part of a broader trend in which scammers use the influence of political figures to create fake tokens and execute pump-and-dump schemes.
The attack mirrors previous incidents, including one involving Brazil’s former president.
Some believe these scams are linked to the Russian cybercrime syndicate Evil Corp, which is notorious for large-scale financial frauds.
Crypto scams using social media continue to rise, and the case of the MALAYSIA token is just a new of many.
Hackers took control of Mahathir’s X account and posted an announcement claiming that the coin was Malaysia’s “official cryptocurrency.”
The post read:
“Malaysia’s Official Cryptocurrency MALAYSIA is Now Live on Solana! This marks a significant milestone in showcasing the strength of our people and our nation’s presence in the digital economy. It is an honor for us to demonstrate Malaysia’s power on the global crypto network.”
Although the post was taken down within an hour, it had already done significant damage.
Data from GeckoTerminal indicates that the token’s market cap skyrocketed to $1.7 million within 15 minutes of the tweet before plummeting.
Data also suggest that the hackers behind this scam were able to steal over $1.7 million from unsuspecting investors before liquidating their holdings.
The MALAYSIA token is just one in a wave of politically themed crypto scams. Among the latest was the infamous BARRON Trump’s token scam, which occurred last month and defrauded investors of millions before crashing more than 95%.
This hack looks exactly the same as the one that happened recently to Mohammed Dewji MO, a Tanzanian politician, with the hacker stealing over $1.4 from the hack.
Amid this increasing trend of influencer exploits, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sounded the alarm, cautioning investors and politicians alike against such manipulative schemes.
Beyond political figures, other major entities have been exploited for fraudulent crypto promotions.
The Mahathir hack is not an isolated case. High-profile social media accounts continue to be prime targets for crypto scams.
Just last month, TV actor Dean Norris, widely known for playing Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad, had his X account hijacked for the second time.
Hackers used his likeness to promote a meme coin in a pump-and-dump scheme, tricking unsuspecting investors.
In fact, just today, Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter also suffered a security breach when its official X account was hacked to promote fraudulent meme tokens, including a fake $MEOW token.
Despite swift action from the team, the hacker continued posting scams, which caused traders to lose millions within minutes.
Jupiter’s founder, @weremeow, suggested the breach might not be a standard cyberattack, speculating that Mei, a key team member, may have been physically targeted while traveling.
However, the team assured users that Jupiter’s treasury and smart contracts remained secure.
All these incidents add to the growing exploit hackers use to steal millions annually from the crypto space.
