Dean Norris, best known for playing Hank Schrader on ‘Breaking Bad’, had hackers exploit his X account to push a memecoin that reached a maximum value of over $8 million.
Hackers hijacked Dean Norris’ X account as part of a pump-and-dump scheme to promote a memecoin using his image.
On January 26, Norris shared a video on his X account, where he stated that hackers had compromised his account and described the memecoin DEAN as a “complete, fake scam.”
Norris blasted Reddit users who, he said, “called me all sorts of things for something I wasn’t responsible for. Go fuck yourselves.”
Though the post promoting the token has disappeared, users preserved screenshots of the original and later posts by the hackers, one featuring a likely manipulated photo of Norris holding a paper with the DEAN ticker and launch date.
A video shared by the hackers on X shows Norris apparently stating, “Hey, it’s me, Dean, and on January 25th, I’m declaring it’s real,” making it seem as though he supports the coin’s authenticity.
A few Reddit users have raised the possibility that the video could be an AI-generated deepfake or a paid video edited out of context.
Norris is available on Cameo, where fans can pay celebrities for personalized video clips.
Blockchain data tracker DexScreener shows that DEAN’s market cap hit $8.43 million on January 25, but it has since fallen to under $60,000.
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Over 96% of the memecoin’s value has evaporated.
In his follow-up statement, Norris confirmed he has no Telegram account and hardly ever uses X.
“I didn’t know I was hacked until I started getting texts from friends saying it’s out there.”
Hackers have compromised Norris’ account for the second time to advertise a cryptocurrency scheme.
Onchain detective ZachXBT noted in November that a project linked to a former Fortnite pro connected to multiple account breaches, including those of McDonald’s, Usher, and Dean Norris.
This incident follows the launch of a memecoin by President Donald Trump on January 18, which sparked a trading frenzy and drove its market cap to nearly $9 billion within hours.
