MALAYSIA, the Latest False Token to Be Shilled
Anonymous hackers recently took control of the X (formerly known as Twitter) account of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to promote a fraudulent meme coin.
This incident is part of a broader trend of scammers exploiting political figures to bolster fake meme coin schemes, echoing the hype around US President Donald Trump’s token.
Social media scams in the crypto space are on the rise, and identifying preventive measures remains challenging.
SlowMist founder Yu Xian pointed out that the account was compromised.
The fraudulent social media post claimed:
“Malaysia’s Official Cryptocurrency MALAYSIA is Now Live on Solana! This marks a significant milestone in showcasing the strength of our people and out nation’s presence in the digital economy. It is an honor for us to demonstrate Malaysia’s power on the global crypto network.”
In this case, hackers used Mohamad’s account to promote a token called MALAYSIA, which briefly saw its market cap surge to $1.7 million before rapidly collapsing.
Though the post was removed within an hour, the damage was done.
Analysis suggests the hackers are linked to the notorious Evil Corp, with the stolen funds quickly liquidated in under an hour.
Meme Coin Scams on the Rise
The MALAYSIA scam is part of a growing trend of fraudulent political meme coins, following the notorious TRUMP token incident that siphoned $857 million.
This type of scam, however, is not confined to political themes.
Crypto investigator ZachXBT reported that Coinbase users alone lost over $150 million to scammers, while Scam Sniffer highlighted a staggering 2000% rise in Telegram-based phishing attacks since November.
These scams show no signs of abating.
Analysts suggest that the surge in meme coins has stifled altcoin season by diverting capital and community attention to this speculative sector.
As long as meme coins continue to attract investment, the prevalence of fake tokens seems likely to persist.