In a crossover that no one requested, the reign of absurdity at the intersection of the rap and cryptocurrency worlds peaked this Tuesday (May 27) when the official Instagram account of Migos was hacked in a bizarre effort to extort 40 Bitcoin (a.k.a. approximately $4.3 million) from Solana co-founder Raj Gokal.
The strange cyber soap opera started when Migos' page began spewing posts that were not from any member of the iconic Atlanta trio. Instead, subscribers were met with an off-putting collection of uploads, at least seven images, no less, including several of Gokal's very legitimate government-issued IDs, such as his passport and driver's license. This made all of his personal details available to the whole world to see, like a terrible episode of Black Mirror.
A pair of photos even included a woman, later identified by the outlet as Gokal's wife, holding her ID. The hackers weren't subtle. The captions look like ransom notes:
"You should have forked over the 40 btc." "It was just 40 btc… Wish you paid."
And as if that wasn't bad enough, the hacker hoods even doxxed Gokal's phone number and email, urging followers to spam him because these low-lives just couldn't let airing his dirty underthings be enough, but they also had to set it on fire.
Oh, and yes, the madness did not end with posts. Of course, its bio was also changed to promote a meme coin scam. There were a few Telegram links and even recordings of his own voice. So, anyway, it was a phishing conference pretending to be a hip-hop page.
Former Migos member Quavo took to his own IG Story to break the news of Quavo and Sweetie's breakup, writing:
"Our Ig is hacked and will be back shortly, thanks.
About 90 minutes later, the rogue posts had been scrubbed, and Migos' digital home was back to business as usual. Gokal saw it coming but only reported suspicious activities against his email and socials last week, May 20. He alerted followers that someone had been trying to hack his accounts for at least a week. Seven days later, his private life is splattered all over the Migos' Instagram.
There hasn't been any official word from Gokal or the Solana Foundation yet, but the crypto community will monitor this closely.
As for Migos fans, the beat went on without a hitch. When the account returned, the comment section erupted like a rap roast.
"Also that was fun," one follower joked.
"That nicca know to pay that 40 btc," said another.
And a third? "Ngl kinda miss Raj. It was in other to hack Migo's page & post shit whilst things was bad. R.I.P RAJ u will never be forgotten." The internet is undefeated in having an immediately appropriate meme for every conceivable occasion.
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