Scammers posing as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have launched a fraudulent cryptocurrency named the Saudi Arabia memecoin (KSA). They exploited public interest in celebrity-backed tokens to deceive investors. Officials have confirmed that the announcement promoting the token came from a hacked social media account.
Fake Token Promoted Through Hacked Account
The scam was announced on Feb. 17 through an X account named “SaudiLawConf,” which impersonated the crown prince. The announcement claimed that the KSA memecoin was an “official” Saudi Arabia cryptocurrency.
However, the real owners of the account, the Saudi Law Conference, later revealed that their account had been hacked. In a LinkedIn post, the conference organizers stated:
“The conference management announces that the official conference account in the X platform (@Saudilawconf) has been hacked and that any content currently published through the account does not represent our opinions or official orientations in any way.”
Red Flags Ignored by Investors
Several warning signs indicated that the memecoin was fraudulent. There was no official communication from the Saudi Arabian government to support the project. Additionally, the project provided no information about the token’s structure, purpose, or how it would generate value.
Further investigation showed that the token contract was launched on-chain on Feb. 10, a week before the announcement. The scammers created the token on Pump.fun, a Solana-based memecoin launchpad. Despite the scam attempt, the token failed to attract investment, gathering only $5,217 in market capitalization.
Scam Follows Pattern of Political-Themed Memecoin Losses
The KSA memecoin scam came shortly after a similar incident involving the Libra (LIBRA) token, which was promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei. The Libra token experienced a rapid rise and a sudden collapse on Feb. 15. The token lost more than 94% of its value within hours after insider wallets withdrew $107 million, causing a liquidity crisis.
The KSA memecoin follows political-themed cryptocurrencies that underperformed in crypto space. Former U.S. President Donald Trump launched the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin on Jan. 18, followed by First Lady Melania Trump’s Melania Meme (MELANIA) token on Jan. 19. However, both tokens have performed poorly.
Additionally, the Central African Republic (CAR) memecoin also faced scam allegations. As CoinChapter reported, phishing links related to the CAR memecoin appeared on several crypto platforms.
Not only this, Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao recently revealed his dog’s name as “Broccoli.” This triggered a flood of Broccoli-themed memecoins on Binance’s launchpads. The memecoin trend, driven by hype rather than value, has disrupted the altcoin market’s growth and diverted capital from more blockchain based projects.
