A crypto researcher discovered that a former professional player on Fortnite could be linked to a major scam involving meme coins and celebrity account hacking.
Crypto sleuth ZachXBT discovered that the high-profile $3.5 million token scam case is linked to popular professional gamer Serpent.
Connection to Serpent’s crypto wallets
ZachXBT investigated the hacking incidents of nine celebrity accounts involved in meme coins. The crypto researcher discovered a connection between all these hacking incidents and said that all roads lead to Serpent.
He concluded that the professional Fortnite gamer could possibly be the mastermind behind these incidents, adding that the online gamer could be involved in the $3.5 million meme coin heist.
1/ An investigation into how threat actor Serpent went from being a professional Fortnite player to helping steal $3.5 million via meme coin scam that launched from 9+ account compromises on X & IG and gambled the proceeds away at online casinos . https://t.co/zR6QtuQW8a pic.twitter.com/Y8ovnEnQgj
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 27, 2024
Purse tied to snake
ZachXBT’s investigation uncovered an electronic trail that further implicated the ex-Fortnite player in the crypto token scam, saying all wallet addresses are linked to Serpent.
The online researcher mentioned that the gamer had “high exposure” to a number of Pump.fun meme coin scams involving hacked social media accounts.
“Over the past few months, I have been monitoring a series of related compromises for McDonald’s, Usher, Kabosu Owner, Andy Ayrey, Wiz Khalifa, SPX 6900, etc. on the launch of Pump Fun Meme Coins,” said ZachXBT.
McDonald’s account compromised
ZachXBT revealed that one of the accounts compromised in the meme coin scam is McDonald’s Instagram.
According to the detailed report, the IG account was hacked and the scammer used it to promote the GRIMACE token. The hacker generated more than $690,000 with the pump-and-dump strategy.
The crypto researcher said the hacker transferred the funds to two primary crypto wallets and a few days later the perpetrator moved 101.5 SOL to two addresses before using the SCHRADER token.
ZachXBT discovered that the meme coin was being promoted on actor Dean Norris X’s account, which was also hacked at the time.
Deleted messages
The crypto researcher revealed that the pro-Fortnite player used the scammed money in online casinos and said recordings from Serpent showed a link to some addresses linked to the hacked account.
ZachXBT said that after publishing the first part of the investigation, Serpent suspiciously started deleting all his messages from his new X account.
Furthermore, Ginx.tv said Serpent was kicked out of e-sports organization “Overtime” in June 2020 because the gamer was accused of cheating.
Analysts said the meme coin scam incident is not an isolated case as the crypto market saw numerous wallet hacks and scams this year, with celebrity accounts being hacked and the promotion of crypto-related scams being the most common .
Featured image of DALL-E, chart from TradingView