Attackers are increasingly using trusted social media accounts to fraudulently sell tokens to users. This pattern resurfaced on the 13th of July, when hackers compromised verified SpaceXAI and Starlink X accounts to promote the SCATMAN memecoin.
These tweets garnered large amounts of attention, with one post receiving over 72k views in a matter of minutes.
Many people who viewed the tweets believed that the token had an increased level of legitimacy, thus creating additional buying pressure on the token.
Meanwhile, the attacker had already minted 10 trillion SCATMAN before the campaign began. The wallets then dumped holdings for 73.7 ETH, worth roughly $135,000. The token briefly approached a $2 million market capitalization before liquidity disappeared, losing 98% of its value.
This incident again showed how compromised high-profile accounts can rapidly transform online trust into exit liquidity for coordinated crypto scams.
Liquidity failed to sustain the rally
That borrowed credibility immediately spilled into the market, where speculative demand surged almost as quickly as the fraudulent posts spread.
As early buyers flooded into SCATMAN, the total market capitalization rose to nearly $2 million in just a few minutes. Trading activity intensified as volume climbed to $5.7 million across nearly 44,925 transactions.
The initial liquidity available to absorb the buying pressure further fueled the rally. However, when the attacker sold his shares back into that demand, the price plummeted by over 98%. In less than 24 hours, only $3900 was left in liquidity.
Even though buyers slightly outnumbered sellers for most of the duration of the short-lived bubble. Notably, when these concentrated exit decisions reached the market, it quickly became apparent that the market did not have enough liquidity to sustain those levels of buy/sell orders.
Final Summary
- SCATMAN exposed how compromised X accounts continue fueling fraudulent token launches through borrowed social credibility.
- The resulting hype caused SCATMAN’s market value to rise to $2 million before liquidity disappeared.