Social engineering crypto scams mainly targeted celebrities in 2024, analysts say

Crypto scams driven by social engineering soared in 2024, with analysts warning that scammers are increasingly targeting celebrities and tech leaders.

In a Feb. 11 research report, analysts at blockchain forensic firm Merkle Science revealed that in 2024, scammers targeted high-profile figures by hacking their accounts. After gaining access, they quickly promoted fake token launches created on Pump.fun, a platform for minting tokens on Solana.

One such incident was the Aug. 29 hack of soccer star Kylian Mbappé’s X account. The attacker promoted a fake MBAPPE meme coin on Solana, which quickly hit a $460 million market cap before collapsing and leaving investors with over $1 million in losses.

“By compromising influential figures and trusted platforms, hackers exploit credibility to manipulate investors at scale.”

Merkle Science

In total, the New York-headquartered firm identified 36 cases of such scams last year. Celebrities were the most targeted cohort, making up 33% of cases, the report reads. Tech figures and tech companies followed, making up 30% and 19% of cases, respectively. Government agencies and consumer brands were rarely hit, each making up just 5% of incidents. On average, victims had 2.3 million followers, the firm notes.

Most attacks occurred on X as the social network accounted for 75% of all cases. YouTube accounted for 19% and official website hacks for 5%, with scammers using tactics like phishing links and bypassing two-factor authentication, according to Merkle Science. The two main scam types were rug pulls and phishing, both making up 88% of all crypto-related attacks that occurred in 2024.