Crypto fraudsters take over UK lawmaker’s X account to shill bogus Solana token

Cryptocurrency scammers hijacked the X account of UK member of parliament Lucy Powell to hype up a scam token and dump it on unsuspecting traders.

On April 15, Powell, who is the Leader of the House of Commons, appeared to promote a Solana-based cryptocurrency called the House of Commons Coin through her verified account on X. The posts claimed HOC was “a community-driven digital currency,” directing followers to buy in.

A staff member from Powell’s team later confirmed to the BBC that Powell’s account had been compromised and said that steps were taken quickly to lock it down and remove the misleading posts.

Despite the attempt to create hype around the launch, the HOC token barely made a splash compared to other similar incidents. 

Data from DEX Screener shows it reached a peak market cap of just over $24,000 and recorded only 736 transactions with about $71,000 in total trading volume. As of press time, it held a market capitalization of approximately $3,800. 

Powell has no history of endorsing crypto, but a number of political figures have recently found themselves linked to tokens, some voluntarily, others through hacks.

For instance, last month, the X account of Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama was taken over for two days to promote a scam called Solanafrica. Meanwhile, in January, the X account of Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was locked after it appeared to promote “CUBA,” which briefly hit a $30 million market cap before crashing.

Last year, American entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramasawamy fell victim to a similar incident, and bad actors used his X account to push a fake announcement about a partnership between the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency and a stablecoin called USUAL.

However, in Argentina, President Javier Melei landed in hot water over a token called LIBRA, which he briefly promoted on X back on Feb. 14. The post sent the token soaring more than 3,000%, but just hours later, it crashed by 90% after Milei deleted the post and claimed he didn’t know much about the project.

Things didn’t stop there. Investigations suggested that a group of insiders, including Kelsier Ventures, may have rigged the launch by controlling token access and liquidity. The move reportedly let insiders bag over $110 million.