Breaking Bad star Dean Norris has confirmed his X account was hacked as part of an elaborate $8 million ‘pump and dump’ crypto scam.
His social media platform was manipulated on Saturday (Jan. 25) to plug a meme coin known as DEAN, created using his image.
Norris is best known for his role as DEA agent Hank Schrader in the smash-hit American crime drama, series Breaking Bad.
Rogue actors uploaded a fake photoshopped image depicting Norris holding a notepad showing $DEAN and the launch date, which led people to believe the actor had launched a personalized meme coin.
The elaborate scam reached new heights when the X account responded to comments asking for proof that the ‘launch’ was for real.
A five-second video was posted with Norris appearing on screen making the following comment:
“Hey it’s me Dean, and uh… January 25th, I’m declaring it’s real.”
Game on. That was the case for the scammers, with plenty of people falling victim to the hoax.
The alarm was raised by the man in question when he posted a fresh video to X, to confirm his legitimate appearance and that the previous video was part of the scam conducted by threat actors.
“This is Dean Norris actually, and that whole crazy crypto sh*t was a complete fake scam. I was hacked and I don’t know, I just got it back,” he said, adding his thanks to the platform for restoring access to his account.
Norris told viewers to ignore the previous content, but by then it was too late.
One of the most believable hackings/scams I’ve seen on here. They had a follow up tweet ready with a photoshopped notepad to “validate” it, had a cameo purchased of Dean Norris saying “Hey it’s me, Dean, it’s January 25th, I’m declaring, it’s real” https://t.co/dz5RYbh2U0 pic.twitter.com/BGF1xvtCls
— Tyler (@CowboysIn4) January 26, 2025
In recent weeks, teams representing President Donald Trump and First Lady, Melania Trump have jumped on the meme coin bandwagon.
Online claims said the actor was lying about his involvement
Data from DEX Screener showed the DEAN token had spiked to a market cap as high as $8.4 million on Saturday, with the real Norris video contributing to a significant drop in the market cap to its current level of $57,000.
DEAN has slumped by 76% in the last 24 hours of trading, with its volume at $263,000 and its liquidity at $46,000.
Norris also hit out at speculators on Reddit who claimed he was behind the infamous crypto launch.
He was accused of lying about his involvement, that he used the crypto process as a ‘pump and dump’ for sheer profit.
“I clicked on a couple accounts accusing me of lying and looks like THEY were the people pumping it up!!,” stated Norris.
The actor confirmed that he does not have a Telegram account and that he rarely uses his X account, other than his required intervention over the DEAN crypto scam.
Image credit: Via Midjourney