The weekend saw hackers target the accounts of Hollywood actor Dean Norris, Visa, and the social media pages for the company to sell fraudulent crypto-tokens.
These incidents raise concerns over the use of high-profile compromised accounts for crypto scams.
Visa’s Facebook compromise
On Jan. 26, hackers accessed Visa’s official Facebook page and used it to promote a suspicious Solana-based crypto.
The attackers claimed the token was part of Visa’s promise to release a crypto token. They wrote:
“Remember back in 2014, we said in 11 years we’d have a coin called ‘VISA.’ Well, it’s 2025, and here we are!”
The crypto community reacted to this announcement with caution and skepticism.
Meanwhile, critics ridiculed the scammer’s choice of Facebook for the scam, suggesting it was unlikely to attract seasoned crypto investors.
Still, the token’s market cap reportedly surged to $6 million before the attackers orchestrated a rug pull—a tactic in which malicious actors sell off tokens abruptly, crashing the price and leaving investors at a loss.
Visa is yet to comment officially on this incident.
Visa, an important traditional financial institution has achieved significant advances in the cryptocurrency scene. The company has formed partnerships with Coinbase and other companies such as Transak, Circle and Solana, to help bridge the gap between crypto and traditional finance.
Dean Norris is a hack
On Jan. 25, American actor Dean Norris’ X account was compromised to promote a memecoin named $DEAN.
The hackers had shared a digitally altered image of the actor holding a sign featuring the token’s name to lend credibility to the scam.
However, Norris debunked the token in a Jan. 26 video stating that his platform was hacked.
Breaking Bad star Michael C. Hall urged his fans to disregard the token, and confirmed that he was not involved. The actor expressed his disappointment at the negative reaction on Reddit, and emphasized that he seldom uses social media.
“He said:
“This is Dean Norris actually, and that whole crazy crypto sh*t was a complete fake scam. I was hacked.”
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