Over the weekend, hackers targeted the social media accounts of Visa and Hollywood actor Dean Norris to promote fraudulent crypto tokens.
The incidents have raised concerns about the increasing use of compromised high-profile accounts to execute crypto scams.
Visa’s Facebook compromise
On Jan. 26, hackers accessed Visa’s official Facebook page and used it to promote a suspicious Solana-based crypto.
The attackers claimed the token was part of Visa’s promise to release a crypto token. They wrote:
“Remember back in 2014, we said in 11 years we’d have a coin called ‘VISA.’ Well, it’s 2025, and here we are!”
However, crypto community members met the announcement with skepticism and warned industry players against it.
Meanwhile, critics ridiculed the scammer’s choice of Facebook for the scam, suggesting it was unlikely to attract seasoned crypto investors.
Still, the token’s market cap reportedly surged to $6 million before the attackers orchestrated a rug pull—a tactic in which malicious actors sell off tokens abruptly, crashing the price and leaving investors at a loss.
Visa has yet to issue any official comment on the incident.
Visa is a prominent traditional financial institution that has made significant advancements in the crypto scene. It has partnerships with companies like Coinbase, Transak, Circle, and Solana to build connections between traditional finance and crypto.
Dean Norris hack
On Jan. 25, American actor Dean Norris’ X account was compromised to promote a memecoin named $DEAN.
The hackers had shared a digitally altered image of the actor holding a sign featuring the token’s name to lend credibility to the scam.
However, Norris debunked the token in a Jan. 26 video stating that his platform was hacked.
The Breaking Bad actor urged his followers to disregard the token and clarified that he had no involvement. He expressed disappointment over the backlash on Reddit and reiterated that he rarely uses social media platforms.
He stated:
“This is Dean Norris actually, and that whole crazy crypto sh*t was a complete fake scam. I was hacked.”
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