Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band that has bagged multiple Grammy Awards. Metallica Website/Screenshot

KEY POINTS

  • The hackers offered $METAL to users who want to avail discounts on Metallica tickets
  • MoonPay warned about the fake token, and Future Protocol has offered to help affected buyers
  • Over $400K is believed to have been lost in the MicroStrategy X account hack in February

The X (formerly Twitter) account of heavy metal band Metallica was hacked late Tuesday by exploiters who promoted the scam token METAL, marking one of the most high-profile crypto-related hacks so far this year.

Among the prominent cryptocurrency users who noticed there was an exploit takeover of the account was @beaniemaxi, who posted screenshots of the posts that offered METAL, a Solana blockchain token supposedly launched in partnership with TicketMaster and MoonPay. The hackers said the new token can be used to get 25% off on Metallica tickets.

Crypto swapping, buying, and selling platform MoonPay also posted about the exploit, warning that the people behind the token "are not the master of puppets – they're the master of scams!"

The X account has since been recovered and the scam posts were deleted. "It was about $2m when I posted this alert. So nearly a total loss for whoever that fell for it and bought," pseudonymous Beanie said. The exact loss figures are unclear at this point.

Metallica did not immediately respond to International Business Times' request for comment on the incident.

Token migrator Future Protocol has offered to help people who lost funds due to the token scam. "We can do an on-chain token migration and get those affected a second chance!" the team wrote. Prominent trader @SolanaPrincess said the "pump and dumb" on the token was insane and "so many people lost" their money to the exploit.

Metallica's X handle is just one of several high-profile accounts that hackers breached to promote fake cryptocurrencies. However, considering the band's popularity, the latest incident is considered big news in the crypto space.

In March, the X account of crypto cold storage wallets provider Trezor was compromised by hackers who posted about a fake token presale. The wallet provider acknowledged the exploit, saying it was investigating the matter. Crypto sleuth ZachXBT said some $8,000 was stolen from the said exploit. Crypto users said at the time that the incident was bad news for X, which is owned by tech titan Elon Musk.

Earlier in the same month, Web3 chat solution Beoble's X handle was taken over by phishing actors. Multiple crypto users said they lost money from the phishing posts on the compromised account.

Among the biggest X account hack news this year was that of Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy. ZachXBT said at the time that some $440,000 was lost among users who fell victim to fake token offers posted by the hackers.

Read more