Gate (gt) 
Heavy metal band Metallica recently fell victim to a cryptocurrency scam, with the community pointing fingers at the scammer Sahil Arora.
On June 26, the X account of the rock band began posting about a Solana token with the ticker METAL. Over a span of 30 minutes, the attacker created several posts claiming that the token was launched in partnership with the ticketing marketplace Ticketmaster. The scammers made bogus claims to drive up the price of the Solana token.
METAL was also promoted as a means of payment for official Metallica merchandise and events. One post even claimed that users could avail of a 25% discount on Ticketmaster purchases when using the token. However, no official announcement had been made by Ticketmaster at the time.
Fintech firm MoonPay was also advertised by scammers as part of their scheme. Subsequently, Keith Grossman, president of MoonPay, confirmed that MoonPay doesn’t support the Solana memecoin.
The scammers also claimed that the METAL token would offer staking rewards and airdrops for holders.
Scammers promoting fake airdrops | Source: X
METAL’s overall market cap briefly hit the $3.37 million mark minutes after its launch. It has since dropped to a mere $34,000, with its price down more than 95% since its all-time high.
At the time of publication, the Metallica team seems to have regained control of the account. All posts made by the attacker have been deleted.
The crypto community was quick to point fingers at Sahil Arora, who has been deemed responsible for a series of similar incidents in recent weeks.
sahil’d — wallstreetbets (@wallstreetbets) June 26, 2024
Just a day before, pop star Jason Derulo blamed Arora after his token JASON saw its price crash moments after launch. While Derulo faced backlash from the crypto community with his involvement in the matter being questioned, Arora has been at the center of controversies on multiple occasions.
Arora has acted as a middleman for several celebrities, reportedly exploiting their lack of knowledge regarding web3. Previously, American rapper “Rich the Kid” had also blamed Arora for hacking his X account to promote the RICH token.
Social media platform X even suspended Arora’s account “@Habibi_Comm” following his involvement in multiple pump and dump schemes. However, that hasn’t slowed down Arora, who is currently posting from another X account, “sahildotfun.”
He also runs a telegram channel where he posts about his upcoming celebrity meme coin launches. The group currently boasts over 13,000 subscribers. At the time of publication, his telegram channel doesn’t mention Metallica, but Jason Derulo and other celebrities have been mentioned.
Most recently, Arora posted about American model Amber Rose, claiming that she might “pull a Jason.”
Sahil Arora’s telegram channel posting about Amber Rose | Source: Telegram
However, the celebrity model has posted a video claiming she hasn’t launched a token. Interestingly, this video came right after she claimed that if she launched a token, it would be on her own page.
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