Hollywood Account Hack Leads to Meme Coin Fraud: UK Hacker Identified

On-chain sleuth ZachXBT has discovered links between the hack of two Hollywood celebrity X accounts and convicted British hacker Gurvinder Bhangu, also known as Gurv. The hacked accounts were used to promote fraudulent meme coins.

Over half a million in stolen funds

In an X-thread on July 30, anonymous crypto researcher ZachXBT shared his findings on the recent hacks of actors Sydney Sweeney and Bob Odenkirk’s X-accounts. The hacked accounts were used to advertise scam meme coins, resulting in $530,000 in stolen funds.

According to ZachXBT, Sydney Sweeney’s account was hacked on July 2nd and posts were made promoting a Solana-based token called “$SWEENEY.” Within two hours, the scam token generated over $10 million in trading volume, before crashing in price. The hack was made possible by a SIM swapping attack that hijacked Sweeney’s Verizon phone number.

Previously convicted for hacking Instagram accounts

ZachXBT’s research suggests that Gurv, previously convicted of hacking Instagram accounts and blackmail, received verification codes for Sweeney’s account via Telegram, strengthening the link between Gurv and the hack. The proceeds from the attack were initially sent to an exchange on Solana, where they were converted into Bitcoin and Ethereum, and then distributed to multiple addresses.

On July 9, another 1.5 ETH was sent to an exchange from a wallet connected to the Sweeney SIM swap. ZachXBT linked the Sweeney hack to a similar attack on Bob Odenkirk’s X account on the same day. The hackers launched and posted two scam meme coins, KIRK and SAUL, from Odenkirk’s account.

Part of funds transferred to crypto casinos

Currently, wallets connected to the Sweeney and Odenkirk scams contain approximately $488,000. The remaining funds were transferred to crypto casinos and used to purchase gift cards. ZachXBT concluded its investigation by calling on UK law enforcement to take action against Gurv, given the large amount of evidence available.

These fraud cases are part of a broader trend of celebrities being used to promote fake meme coins, either through hacked accounts or through social engineering fraud.