Hacking and Pump-and-Dump Scheme Involving Celebrity Sweeney's Account

American actress Sydney Sweeney's account suffered a security breach leading to the promotion of a crypto token named after her in a suspected pump-and-dump operation. The token, known as SWEENEY and based on the Solana network, quickly garnered a trading volume exceeding $10 million within just two hours of its launch on July 2. Numerous promotional posts from Sweeney's compromised account contributed to the token's rapid rise.

One of the now-deleted posts from Sweeney's account teased the token's launch with the statement, "Well I think it’s time… $sweeney is now live 100mc incoming," although this claim could not be independently verified by Cointelegraph.

Image: Sweeney's promotional post for the SWEENEY token, Source: Ioachim Viju/X

However, the price of the SWEENEY token plummeted by almost 90% within an hour from 6:15 pm UTC but has since shown slight recovery. The market capitalization of the token has declined to $1.2 million from its peak of $3.85 million, according to data from DEX Screener.

The administrator of a Telegram channel associated with the token, shared through Sweeney's compromised account, appeared to take responsibility for the hack.

Image: Messages from the hacker of Sweeney's account, Source: Telegram

In now-removed posts, the hacker claimed involvement in recent breaches of accounts belonging to rapper 50 Cent and wrestler Hulk Hogan to promote similar fraudulent tokens. They hinted at targeting a more "popular" celebrity than Sweeney in the future but did not provide specifics.

This incident marks the second time Sweeney's account was compromised to promote a crypto token. In a previous breach in January, hackers advertised the Solana token MILK, which now holds a market cap of $1 million.

The hack follows a trend where minor celebrities have engaged in promoting crypto tokens, including memecoins, to their followers.

Related: Vitalik Buterin criticizes celebrity-backed memecoins.

Public figures like Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea, "Rich the Kid," David Adedeji Adeleke Oon, and Floyd Mayweather have all participated in token launches promoted through their accounts. Iggy Azalea's token, MOTHER, notably reached a peak market cap of $148.9 million before experiencing a significant drop in value.

For more insights, explore the risks associated with investing in newly emerged Solana memecoins in the magazine article: 5 dangers to beware when apeing into Solana memecoins