McDonald's Instagram Promotes Grimace Memecoin

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Compilation of Hacked Account Screenshots

McDonald's official Instagram account started promoting a Grimace memecoin on August 21st. McDonald's later removed the posts and in a public statement, acknowledged that they were aware of a social media incident and apologized for any offensive language. It appears that the account was hacked, potentially through the compromise of the account of one of the marketing directors. The hackers appear to be a group referring to themselves as India_X_Kr3w and reportedly made a profit of $700k throught he promotion and subsequent rug pull of a Grimace meme coin. There are some community efforts to obtain justice for victims, and it is unclear how the situation will ultimately play out.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84]

About None

"#McDonald's #Instagram was hacked to promote a #Solana #memecoin called #GRIMACE, which quickly rose to a $20 million market cap before crashing."

"The deception was amplified by the hacking of McDonald’s Senior Marketing Director Guillaume Huin. The hackers accessed his social media accounts to post false ads for the GRIMACE token. These posts falsely claimed McDonald’s would follow the Instagram accounts of GRIMACE holders, adding a layer of legitimacy to the scam."

"INDIA X KR3W ON YOUR FOREHEAD THANKS FOR THE $700,000 NIGGA"

"mcdonalds If you're a holder of $GRIMACE, comment below, we will follow you on the official @McDonalds account. We love and appreciate all the supports of Grimace!"

"The hackers changed the profile and posted content to promote the meme coin, then openly mocked the victims after executing the rug pull. They identified themselves as "India X Kr3w" in their posts."

"On-chain sleuth ZachXBT revealed that McDonald's Instagram account was allegedly hacked and used to promote the meme token GRIMACE."

"Hackers used the compromised McDonald's Instagram account to promote a fake cryptocurrency called $GRIMACE coin. This was a classic "rug pull" scheme where the scammers pumped the coin to attract investors and then dumped their holdings, causing the coin's value to plummet. This scam led to a loss of approximately $700,000 for those who invested."

"The incident has been widely discussed on X, with users highlighting the audacity of the scam, the vulnerability of social media accounts of large corporations to such attacks, and the broader risks associated with cryptocurrency investments, especially meme coins."

"PANews News on August 21, Detective ZachXBT on the chain disclosed that McDonald's Instagram account was suspected of being stolen and promoted Meme tokens GRIMACE. It is reported that the market value of the token has plummeted after rising to US$25 million in thirty minutes, and is currently about US$639,000."

"The GRIMACE token's value skyrocketed in just a few minutes, reaching $25 million. However, the surge didn’t last long. The hackers, calling themselves “India X Kr3w,” quickly cashed out their holdings, causing the token's value to plummet to almost nothing, leaving investors with worthless assets."

"I purchase this morning $150,000 of the official McDonald's meme token, Grimace. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it but I wanted to understand - what utility do I get for that here? Umm, I going to ask my boss, hold on. Hi. How are you doing today? I'm good and you? Uh, this morning, I'm not sure if you're familiar - the McDonald's Instagram published the official McDonald's meme token. I made a small $150,000 investment in it - in the Grimace token, and I was assuming that there was some utility that I would get here, and I wanted - the devs did promise utility, and I wanted to know, what do I get? Do I get like a free happy meal or something? No. That is through the app. We don't do nothing with Instagram like that. You don't? No. Oh, I viewed it as a marketing campaign. And now the devs rugged it, so I lost like $150,000. We don't do that here. Oh my gosh... Wow. Yeah, you have to load on the app. That is the - the only way that they do a specials or give you something free for that. Okay. We don't do nothing like that. Wow that's crazy. Man. Maybe I shouldn't have purchased that, you know. I'm not sure. $150,000 gone. I mean, it's not that big of a deal, but jeez - alright. Yeah, we don't..."

"Sorry mah nigga you have just been rug pulled by India_X_Kr3w thank you for the $700,000 in Solana."

"The posts have since been deleted."

"GRIMACE rugger who hacked @McDonalds hold approx. 3000 $SOL worth 450.000$ in these wallets.

As money splits in 2 wallets, probably they are team of 2

wallet 1 : 9yMwSPk9mrXSN7yDHUuZurAh1sjbJsfpUqjZ7SvVtdco

wallet 2 : 2vjnmxwTYNJvTmFhtqxZkPiuCHkaKZK5rcxTLuoC2dPB"

"While the immediate response from McDonald's regarding regaining control of their Instagram account was noted, there hasn't been detailed follow-up information on how they plan to address or prevent such incidents in the future, at least not directly from the X posts or related discussions."

"Everyone that got effected from the McDonald scam, we are getting together to make sure we get justice, JOIN THE #grimace movement"

"McDonald’s told the New York Post in a statement that it was aware of an “isolated incident” that had impacted its social media accounts on Aug. 21.

“We have resolved the issue on those accounts and apologize to our fans for any offensive language posted during that time,” McDonald’s said."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

  • Known history of when and how the service was started.
  • What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
  • What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
  • Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
  • Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
  • How were people recruited to participate?
  • Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

  • Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
  • Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

  • When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
  • Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
  • How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
  • Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

"Hackers recently took control of McDonald’s official Instagram account, using it to promote a fake meme coin and steal over $700,000 in a classic rug pull scam. The fraudulent token, named GRIMACE, was falsely claimed to be linked to McDonald’s, briefly boosting its value to $25 million before it crashed."

Key Event Timeline - McDonald's Instagram Promotes Grimace Memecoin
Date Event Description
August 21st, 2024 9:24:00 AM MDT Early Report On Twitter Twitter user subwayzarry highlights a post claiming that "Mcdonalds launched a coin"
August 21st, 2024 9:57:16 AM MDT Potential Rug Pull Transaction A blockchain transaction burning the liquidity pool, which is potentially the rug pull itself.
August 21st, 2024 10:00:13 AM MDT ZachXBT Twitter Report ZachXBT reports about the hack on Telegram, along with a screenshot of the hacked McDonald's account, captured on a smartphone.
August 21st, 2024 10:05:50 AM MDT PANews Published Article PANews publishes an article covering over the details of the exploit.
August 21st, 2024 5:41:00 PM MDT Video Of Victim At McDonalds A video is published of a victim who purchased $150,000 worth of the Grimace meme token. They describe their loss as "not that big of a deal".
August 21st, 2024 5:58:50 PM MDT CoinTelegraph Article CoinTelegraph publishes an article on the situation.
August 22nd, 2024 12:38:17 AM MDT CoinPaprika Article CoinPaprika publishe an article on the hacking.
August 22nd, 2024 2:25:59 AM MDT Bitcoin News Article Bitcoin News publishes an article highlighting the attack and resulting post made.
August 22nd, 2024 1:34:00 PM MDT Grimace CTO Movement A Telegram group for victims is started called the Grimace CTO group.
September 16th, 2024 2:27:51 PM MDT First Event Describe the event.

Technical Details

"#McDonald's #Instagram was hacked to promote a #Solana #memecoin called #GRIMACE, which quickly rose to a $20 million market cap before crashing."

"The deception was amplified by the hacking of McDonald’s Senior Marketing Director Guillaume Huin. The hackers accessed his social media accounts to post false ads for the GRIMACE token. These posts falsely claimed McDonald’s would follow the Instagram accounts of GRIMACE holders, adding a layer of legitimacy to the scam."

"INDIA X KR3W ON YOUR FOREHEAD THANKS FOR THE $700,000 NIGGA"

"mcdonalds If you're a holder of $GRIMACE, comment below, we will follow you on the official @McDonalds account. We love and appreciate all the supports of Grimace!"

Total Amount Lost

The total amount at risk has been estimated at $25,000,000 USD. The total amount lost has been estimated at $700,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

"The hackers changed the profile and posted content to promote the meme coin, then openly mocked the victims after executing the rug pull. They identified themselves as "India X Kr3w" in their posts."

"On-chain sleuth ZachXBT revealed that McDonald's Instagram account was allegedly hacked and used to promote the meme token GRIMACE."

"Hackers used the compromised McDonald's Instagram account to promote a fake cryptocurrency called $GRIMACE coin. This was a classic "rug pull" scheme where the scammers pumped the coin to attract investors and then dumped their holdings, causing the coin's value to plummet. This scam led to a loss of approximately $700,000 for those who invested."

"The incident has been widely discussed on X, with users highlighting the audacity of the scam, the vulnerability of social media accounts of large corporations to such attacks, and the broader risks associated with cryptocurrency investments, especially meme coins."

"PANews News on August 21, Detective ZachXBT on the chain disclosed that McDonald's Instagram account was suspected of being stolen and promoted Meme tokens GRIMACE. It is reported that the market value of the token has plummeted after rising to US$25 million in thirty minutes, and is currently about US$639,000."

"The GRIMACE token's value skyrocketed in just a few minutes, reaching $25 million. However, the surge didn’t last long. The hackers, calling themselves “India X Kr3w,” quickly cashed out their holdings, causing the token's value to plummet to almost nothing, leaving investors with worthless assets."

"I purchase this morning $150,000 of the official McDonald's meme token, Grimace. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it but I wanted to understand - what utility do I get for that here? Umm, I going to ask my boss, hold on. Hi. How are you doing today? I'm good and you? Uh, this morning, I'm not sure if you're familiar - the McDonald's Instagram published the official McDonald's meme token. I made a small $150,000 investment in it - in the Grimace token, and I was assuming that there was some utility that I would get here, and I wanted - the devs did promise utility, and I wanted to know, what do I get? Do I get like a free happy meal or something? No. That is through the app. We don't do nothing with Instagram like that. You don't? No. Oh, I viewed it as a marketing campaign. And now the devs rugged it, so I lost like $150,000. We don't do that here. Oh my gosh... Wow. Yeah, you have to load on the app. That is the - the only way that they do a specials or give you something free for that. Okay. We don't do nothing like that. Wow that's crazy. Man. Maybe I shouldn't have purchased that, you know. I'm not sure. $150,000 gone. I mean, it's not that big of a deal, but jeez - alright. Yeah, we don't..."

Ultimate Outcome

"Sorry mah nigga you have just been rug pulled by India_X_Kr3w thank you for the $700,000 in Solana."

"The posts have since been deleted."

"GRIMACE rugger who hacked @McDonalds hold approx. 3000 $SOL worth 450.000$ in these wallets.

As money splits in 2 wallets, probably they are team of 2

wallet 1 : 9yMwSPk9mrXSN7yDHUuZurAh1sjbJsfpUqjZ7SvVtdco

wallet 2 : 2vjnmxwTYNJvTmFhtqxZkPiuCHkaKZK5rcxTLuoC2dPB"

"While the immediate response from McDonald's regarding regaining control of their Instagram account was noted, there hasn't been detailed follow-up information on how they plan to address or prevent such incidents in the future, at least not directly from the X posts or related discussions."

"Everyone that got effected from the McDonald scam, we are getting together to make sure we get justice, JOIN THE #grimace movement"

"McDonald’s told the New York Post in a statement that it was aware of an “isolated incident” that had impacted its social media accounts on Aug. 21.

“We have resolved the issue on those accounts and apologize to our fans for any offensive language posted during that time,” McDonald’s said."

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.

References

  1. ↑ Example Domain (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  2. ↑ SlowMist Hacked - SlowMist Zone (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  3. ↑ 麦当劳的Instagram账号疑似被盗并宣传某Meme币 - PANews (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  4. ↑ Telegram: Contact @investigations (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  5. ↑ @GrimaceOdysseus Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  6. ↑ @braveadultclub Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  7. ↑ @ZeroDayPwn Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  8. ↑ @reinasdecrypto1 Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  9. ↑ @agocripto Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  10. ↑ @__Con_ Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  11. ↑ @SolanaDegenLife Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  12. ↑ @RektAlert Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  13. ↑ @CryptoTsar0 Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  14. ↑ @PORKBLUNT Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  15. ↑ @alch3mist_x Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  16. ↑ @InvestorJordann Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  17. ↑ @inthemempool Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  18. ↑ @_ronaldro_ Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  19. ↑ @archivum_saves Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  20. ↑ @subwayzarry1 Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  21. ↑ @KittiesNice Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  22. ↑ @ylvisthefox Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  23. ↑ @KellyTrachtArt Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  24. ↑ @CryptoXenith Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  25. ↑ @GRIMACEMDS Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  26. ↑ https://solscan.io/tx/2soH4siSEyZC9Mo1RRomYoXoqJLWgPxEXPaJKhPtwHjyRRp8sF1vpf71oMNPSKNkXEeF1JD7zpGtX9pdGqZysFw2 (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  27. ↑ @CryptoNoted Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  28. ↑ @Dannyd4crypto Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  29. ↑ @lopezunwired Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  30. ↑ @DamianProsa Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  31. ↑ @Crypto_Q1 Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  32. ↑ @GRIMACEMDS Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  33. ↑ @tshirtsaleol Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  34. ↑ @madcoinvip Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
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  37. ↑ @15MinuteNewsBus Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  38. ↑ @blckchaindaily Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  39. ↑ @CryptoRugMunch Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  40. ↑ https://dexscreener.com/solana/ebv3fvhxjeq73wnvqedddlm1ug5jc3azqufv7r9lwye (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  41. ↑ @blackgokusei Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  42. ↑ @brandonsalim Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  43. ↑ @hatedbyfate_eth Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  44. ↑ @thebryanjun Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  45. ↑ @Hamburg_tuff Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  46. ↑ @CryptoPress_ok Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  47. ↑ @CryptosR_Us Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  48. ↑ @TKBushleague Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  49. ↑ @HearttOfUsa Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  50. ↑ @Traders_pulse Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  51. ↑ Telegram: Contact @grimacectowtf (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  52. ↑ @Noparty1776 Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  53. ↑ @pSquare_Daily Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  54. ↑ @adamKDean Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  55. ↑ @profkatn Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  56. ↑ @1stepapp Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  57. ↑ @DataPadi Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  58. ↑ @coinpaprika Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  59. ↑ Hackers Steal $700K in Fake McDonald's Meme Coin Scam (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  60. ↑ @metaversico Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  61. ↑ @Exworth_ Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  62. ↑ @EasyEatsBodega Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  63. ↑ @PorkPieETH Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  64. ↑ @LordTrivia Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  65. ↑ @BTCTN Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  66. ↑ Hackers Exploit McDonald’s Instagram to Promote Fake Grimace Coin, Netting $700,000 in Solana – News Bytes Bitcoin News (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  67. ↑ @nftAmmar Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  68. ↑ @Altcoin_Alerts Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  69. ↑ @SolTxgs Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  70. ↑ @ChristiaanDefi Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  71. ↑ @JackyNode Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  72. ↑ @Degen999 Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  73. ↑ @jase Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  74. ↑ @DexterVro Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  75. ↑ @bigsh0tnft Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  76. ↑ @GeneralPudgy Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  77. ↑ @PossessBrand Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  78. ↑ @SadCreatorTalks Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  79. ↑ @GRIMACEMDS Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  80. ↑ @SlamXio Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  81. ↑ @Onlineboss_ Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  82. ↑ @brandonsalim Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  83. ↑ @beincrypto_es Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
  84. ↑ @AlephSuper Twitter (Accessed Sep 16, 2024)
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