An unknown attacker managed to gain control of the X accounts of SpaceXAI (with an audience of 2 million followers) and Starlink (1.6 million followers) and used them to promote the memecoin $SCATMAN. As a result of a classic pump-and-dump scheme, the hacker withdrew approximately $125,000 in ether (ETH).
The incident drew the attention of Lookonchain analysts, who tracked the movement of funds through the attacker's wallets and reconstructed the full chronology of the attack. After seizing the accounts, the hacker launched a massive token advertising campaign through posts made on behalf of SpaceXAI and Starlink. The messages were initially published under the name of the character Sam Catman (with a gold verification checkmark), and then reposted from the hacked pages, quickly garnering tens of thousands of views and hundreds of interactions.
How the attack unfolded
The token was traded in the SCATMAN/WETH pair on Uniswap V2. The chart demonstrates a classic pump-and-dump scheme: the coin's price shot up almost vertically, then instantly collapsed. Within just 24 hours, the quotes fell by 98.38%. Key token parameters at the time of recording: liquidity — $3,900, market capitalization — ~$1.4 million, fully diluted valuation — ~$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 stages. First, 10 trillion SCATMAN were transferred to his wallet via the rebalance function. Then, the entire amount was approved for trading on Uniswap V2, and the attacker sold the assets in a single transaction, receiving 59.0856 ETH (~$108,366 at the time). Simultaneously, a second controlled wallet sold 59,276,870 SCATMAN, yielding an additional 14.7296 ETH (~$27,000). In total, the hacker withdrew approximately $125,000. Notably, gas fees for all transactions remained symbolic — less than $0.01 per transaction.
Expert opinion: This incident is yet another reminder that even the largest and seemingly secure corporate accounts can be compromised to promote dubious tokens. The memecoin market remains extremely vulnerable to manipulation, and any advertising campaigns on behalf of well-known brands should be viewed with extreme caution. Investors should remember that such schemes typically end with a price collapse of 90-99%, leaving holders with devalued assets.