Pokemon official social media accounts were suddenly accessed without authorization on August 27, with hackers directly taking control of the account to make posts, transforming the official Pokemon account into a cryptocurrency promotion platform. The entire incident lasted approximately 30 minutes. The hack occurred just before the Pokemon World Championships kicked off, with the hacker using the official account to post a fake message claiming Pokemon was celebrating its anniversary in a “new way” and launching a so-called “official Pokemon meme coin,” attempting to lure fans in.
Official Quickly Reclaimed Account, Deleted All Fake Posts
After discovering the account had been breached, Pokemon officials quickly took measures to regain control and deleted all content posted by the hackers. The official later confirmed in a statement that the account was indeed accessed without authorization, and those cryptocurrency promotional posts were neither created nor approved by Pokemon, while apologizing to affected fans. The account has now resumed normal operations, with officials reminding fans that even when seeing content from a verified official account, if it looks suspicious, they should still not blindly trust or interact with it.
Hackers Only Needed 30 Minutes, Pokemon Almost Became a Crypto Project
The most embarrassing part of this incident is that the hackers did not spend much time managing the account. Instead, after gaining control, they immediately used Pokemon, this globally recognized IP, to endorse cryptocurrency. Although the official quickly reclaimed the account, in the social media era, 30 minutes is enough for a massive number of fans to see and even share the fake news.
The incident occurred just before the Pokemon World Championships were about to take place, with the official account suddenly posting about a Pokemon official meme coin. This scene would probably leave even the actual Pokemon planning team stunned for a moment. The official has not yet further explained whether this breach will affect the upcoming Pokemon World Championships.