Breaking Bad Star Dean Norris’ X Account Hacked to Promote Fraudulent Memecoin

In a recent attack that exploits the sheer negligence with which social media handles are monitored, Breaking Bad’s Hank Schrader, Dean Norris, has become yet another target in a series of celebrity accounts getting hacked for the promotion of scam coins.

What Happened Next?

Surprisingly, on Dean Norris’s birthday, January 26, 2025, his followers noticed a post from his verified X (Twitter) account announcing a cryptocurrency titled “DEAN” along with its symbol and contract address. The post exhibited an image of Dean cementing the authenticity of the launch by showing a notepad with the coin’s symbol and the date.

The promotion gained a lot of attention, and within a few short hours, the coins were sitting at a market cap of 8 million dollars. All this is accompanied by a huge surge in transactions from within the platform. All the hype.

Exactly What I Was Expecting

In his post, Norris explained that he was defrauded of his account as he reiterated his disinterest towards “$DEAN” crypto. He purported the coin to be a ‘complete fake scam’.

Regardless of his sentiment towards crypto on his page, it did not seem to matter as it’s worth collapsed by 90% immediately post his announcement, raking in huge losses towards disgruntled hopeful investors.

More Often Than Not

This wasn’t the first time someone had taken Norris’s account and misused it for their agenda. Back in September 2024, a different crook hacked into him in hopes of advertising some baseless cryptocurrency called $SHRADER.

Having reputations such as Neymar Jr and Oliver Stone, along with the well-respected brand Lenovo, compromised only to fall into notorious dubious crypto promotion proves once and for all how shamelessly rife account phishing on the internet creeps have gotten.

The Mechanics of the Scam

Truly unique, these scams tend to follow a ‘pump and dump’ approach:

Account Compromise: A prominent person loses access to their social media account for some time.

Promotion: They announce a round of new currency likely bought by credit-based cards to meet needs.

Exit: Con artists offload their assets at the highest point, triggering a crash in the coin’s value and leaving investors with nothing but worthless tokens.

The Broader Implications

The rise of new fraudulent activities emphasises the necessity of more advanced cybersecurity services, particularly for public personas. This also functions as a warning for the investors to remain cautious and do thorough background checks, even if the endorsement seems to come from a credible figure.

With the ongoing changes in the world of cryptocurrency, the community as a whole needs to improve its security and educational facilities to prevent such deceitful crimes.