An unknown attacker gained access to the X accounts of Elon Musk's companies @SpaceXAI (2 million followers) and @Starlink (1.6 million followers). The profiles were used to promote the memecoin $SCATMAN. After artificially inflating the token's price (pump), the hacker sold off all their holdings (dump). The manipulation netted them approximately $125,000 in ETH cryptocurrency.
This incident is yet another reminder of how vulnerable even the largest and most verified social media accounts remain. The attacker didn't just hack the pages but skillfully executed a multi-step pump and dump scheme, leveraging the trust of a multi-million audience.
How the Attack Unfolded
After taking over the accounts, the hacker launched a massive advertising campaign for the $SCATMAN token. Posts were broadcast through the hacked SpaceXAI and Starlink pages. The messages were initially published under the persona of Sam Catman (verified account @SamCatmanRH) and then reposted from the compromised pages. The posts quickly garnered tens of thousands of views, hundreds of likes and reposts, creating an illusion of project legitimacy.
The token was traded in the SCATMAN/WETH pair on the Uniswap V2 platform. The chart displays a classic pump and dump scheme. The coin's price skyrocketed almost vertically, then instantly crashed. Within just 24 hours, the quotes fell by 98.38%.
Key Token Metrics at the Time of Recording
| Parameter | Value |
| Liquidity | $3,900 |
| Market Capitalization | ~$1.4 million |
| Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) | ~$1.4 million |
| Total Trading Volume | $5.7 million |
| Total Number of Transactions | ~45,000 |
Where the Money Went
The hacker extracted the bulk of the profit in two steps. First, 10,000,000,000,000 (10 trillion) SCATMAN was deposited into their wallet via the rebalance function. Then, the entire amount was approved for trading on Uniswap V2. The attacker sold the assets in a single transaction, netting 59.0856 ETH. At that time, the amount was approximately $108,366.
Simultaneously, a second controlled wallet sold 59,276,870 SCATMAN. The operation yielded 14.7296 ETH, equivalent to roughly $27,000. The transaction history also shows smaller operations, including both initial token purchases with ETH and subsequent sales for insignificant amounts.
In total, the attacker withdrew approximately $125,000. Notably, the gas fees for all operations remained symbolic — less than $0.01 per transaction.
Analyst's Comment: Incidents like this show that even companies on the level of SpaceX and Starlink are not immune to social engineering and phishing. For ordinary investors, this is a signal: never trust cryptocurrency advertisements even from verified accounts. Always check official sources and don't give in to emotions when you see a "rocket" price surge. The pump and dump scheme remains one of the most profitable for scammers and most ruinous for inexperienced traders.