Emily Walker
A cryptocurrency investigator has found that a former pro Fortnite player may be linked to a significant scam involving meme coins and hacking of famous social media accounts.
Crypto investigator ZachXBT has revealed connections to a $3.5 million scam involving the token to the well-known gamer Serpent.
Links to Serpent’s Cryptocurrency Wallets
ZachXBT looked into the hacking of nine celebrity accounts related to meme coins and found that all these incidents connect back to Serpent.
He suspects that this former Fortnite player could be behind these hacking activities and may have participated in stealing meme coins valued at $3.5 million.
1/ An investigation into how the threat actor Serpent went from a pro Fortnite player to helping steal $3.5M via meme coin scams launched from 9+ account compromises on X & IG and gambling the proceeds away at online casinos. pic.twitter.com/Y8ovnEnQgj
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 27, 2024
Wallets Associated with Serpent
The investigation led by ZachXBT uncovered an electronic trail implicating the ex-Fortnite professional in the scam, indicating all wallet addresses point back to Serpent.
The investigator noted that Serpent had significant involvement with multiple Pump.fun meme coin scams tied to compromised social media accounts.
“In recent months, I tracked a series of related hacks targeting celebrities like McDonald’s, Usher, and Wiz Khalifa on X & IG, which led to over $3.5 million in losses due to the launch of various Pump Fun meme coins,” ZachXBT stated.
McDonald’s Account Hacked
Among the compromised accounts, ZachXBT identified McDonald’s Instagram, which was hijacked to promote the GRIMACE token, resulting in an estimated $690,000 gained through deceitful methods.
The hacker funneled the illicit proceeds into two main cryptocurrency wallets, later transferring 101.5 SOL to other addresses before launching the SCHRADER token.
ZachXBT noted that this meme coin was advertised through the hacked account of actor Dean Norris during the same period.
Erased Posts
The investigator further revealed that the former pro-Fortnite player reportedly used stolen funds for online gambling, with evidence connecting Serpent to various addresses affiliated with the compromised account.
After the first part of the investigation was made public, it was noted that Serpent began deleting his posts from his new X account, raising suspicions.
Additionally, Ginx.tv reported that Serpent was expelled from the “Overtime” e-sports organization in June 2020 due to allegations of cheating.
Experts believe that this incident of meme coin scamming is part of a broader trend, as the crypto market has seen multiple hacking cases and scams involving celebrities in recent times.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView