Last week, multiple celebrity instagram accounts were hacked to promote an apparent Solana-based memecoin pump-and-dump. The hijacked accounts included those of English singer Adele, American rapper Future, South African singer and songwriter Tyla, and late pop star Michael Jackson.
The hacker accessed the pages of these celebrities to share AI-generated posts featuring Future holding an oversized coin called FREEBANDZ. It is the name of a clothing line and music connected to the rapper alongside the contract address of the Solana meme coin, which surged to a $900K market cap before plummeting.
Shortly after the hack, Future’s instagram handle was deactivated as a protective step to prevent further exploitation of his brand and his more than 25 million followers. On the other hand, Adele and other affected stars have not publicly commented on the hijack.
While Instagram has not made any formal statements until now, many cyber experts are calling on vulnerabilities in the platform’s security infrastructure.
Crypto scams on the rise
The cryptocurrency industry has been facing a surge in scams since the past couple of years. The UFC’s official Instagram account suffered a hack earlier this year, resulting in losses of $1.4 million for cryptocurrency users.
Last year, hackers also compromised McDonald’s Instagram account to promote GRIMACE, a memecoin based in Solana. In 2022, a hacker successfully compromised the British Army’s X and YouTube accounts for a crypto scam.
Malicious crypto schemes have even hijacked the social media accounts of Barack Obama and Elon Musk in 2020. Such scammers use prominent social media accounts to pump the value of a coin before selling and crashing the price, called a pump-and-dump scheme
Moreover, recently, blockchain security firm PeckShield’s findings revealed that hackers stole $142 million across 17 major incidents in July 2025, a 27.2% rise as compared to June 2025, which indicates an amount of $111.6 million. The rise in crypto scams has further underlined the need for better and stronger measures to safeguard users.
Also Read: North Korean Hackers Push Coinbase Into New Era of Security
