An X account impersonating Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, launched a fake national cryptocurrency on Solana’s token launchpad Pump.fun. The account promoted the token to its thousands of followers, seemingly aiming to capitalize on the recent Political memecoin frenzy.
Hong Kong Gov’t Denies National Cryptocurrency
On Thursday, an X account under the username “JohnLeeKa_Chiu” announced the “National Hong Kong Coin” (HKONG). In the now-deleted post, the Chief Executive’s impersonator said that the “strategic step” marked a “new era in digital innovation and economic growth for Hong Kong.”
A few hours later, the account stated that the token would officially launch at 2:00 pm Hong Kong time, but it was postponed to 5:00 pm. Ahead of the launch, the impersonator interacted with several X accounts, replying to US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The account also replied to Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy’s heated exchange with American actor Nick Cannon, who recently launched a Solana memecoin. In the post, the impersonator thanked Portnoy for allegedly helping the Hong Kong government “with launch of Hong Kong national crypto currency.”
John Lee Ka-chiu impersonator replies to Dave Portnoy. Source: Blake Allen on X
Some crypto investors discussed whether the Chief Executive had been hacked and if the announcement was a scam, as the X account displayed a gray verification mark, which indicates an account represents a government or multilateral organization.
Nonetheless, John Lee Ka-chiu’s official Facebook page denied the links to the X account and explained the government was not launching a cryptocurrency. “Members of the public should not mistakenly believe the fake information claiming that the Chief Executive has announced the launch of the National Hong Kong Coin,” the post read.
He clarified that someone was pretending to be him to defraud unsuspected investors, warning them to “be careful in seeking evidence and verifying the authenticity of the information to prevent them from being cheated.”
Is The Political Memecoin Party Over?
On X, a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Johnny Ng, echoed the same warning:
To be absolutely clear – the government has confirmed this is completely fake and designed to scam people. Please be careful out there and don’t fall for this trick!
This incident raised concerns about X’s account verification and security, as it follows a long list of hacked X accounts used to promote crypto scams. One user pointed out that the impersonator likely hacked the account of Indian officials and changed the username, name, and biography to conduct the scheme.
Notably, the account previously posted pictures of the Prime Minister of India and reposted several posts from various Indian officials. Moreover, it deleted all posts related to the National Hong Kong cryptocurrency and changed its username to “moftransilvania,” suggesting that the hackers remain in control of the account.
Some users also pointed out that the scam didn’t gain momentum since the hacker didn’t launch and post the token’s contract address (CA) quickly, which allowed investors to see the various red flags. As a result, the HKONG token only hit a market capitalization of $200,000 before collapsing.
Others highlighted that the launch of political or Politician-related memecoins has already done “enough damage” to the crypto industry, noting the Central African Republic (CAR) “experiment,” and the Argentina-linked Libra token (LIBRA) crash.
As reported by Bitcoinist, the Democratic Party of The US House of Representatives has proposed the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act, aiming to prohibit federal officials from promoting various financial assets or participating in conducts that could financially benefit them from these assets.
This move follows the launch of the TRUMP and MELANIA memecoins by the US Presidential Family, which has raised concerns about the risks of Politician-issued tokens.
Solana (SOL) trades at $147.53 in the one-week chart. Source: SOLUSDT on TradingView
Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
