Vivek Ramaswamy, co-head of the U.S. government’s DOGE efficiency department, appears to have had his Twitter account hacked. The hacker spread false information about a partnership with the stablecoin project USUAL, causing the price of $USUAL to surge.
Hackers promote $USUAL via DOGE’s Vivek Ramaswamy Account
Jack Fishback, CEO of Azoria and Founder of Incubate Debate, confirmed the scam in a post on X: “I just spoke with Vivek. He has been hacked. He is locked out of his account.”
I just spoke with Vivek. He has been hacked. He is locked out of his account. This is a scam.
— James Fishback (@j_fishback) December 20, 2024
Following the fraudulent promotion of $USUAL, its price rose by 31.08% to $1.52, and its market cap increased by 32.73% to $683.2 million. However, its 24-hour trading volume decreased by 7.76% to $1.6 billion.
Social media account hacks to promote cryptocurrencies are becoming a common tactic for pump-and-dump schemes. Recently, the Cardano Foundation’s official X account was hacked, with attackers spreading fake news of an SEC lawsuit against Cardano (ADA) while promoting a fraudulent token.
In another incident, Philip Banks, the creator of CHILLGUY, revealed that his X account was hacked and is still under the control of the attackers, who falsely announced the granting of intellectual property (IP) rights to the CHILLGUY token team. The scammers also attempted to create and promote a new token, Philb, on Pump.fun.
Also Read: Ilya Lichtenstein Sentenced to 5 Years for Bitfinex Hack and Money Laundering