Pokémon Responds After Hacker Compromises Its X Account to Hawk MemeCoin
The official Pokémon account on X (formerly Twitter) was compromised on August 17, 2026, at approximately 3 PM PT. Unknown attackers posted a message promoting “$POKEMON,” a memecoin, disguised as an official celebration of the franchise’s 30th anniversary. The deceptive post read “Celebrate 30 years of Pokémon in a whole new way! Introducing $POKEMON, the official Pokemon memecoin. Join trainers around the world and be part of the #Pokemon30 celebration,” complete with a link to a fraudulent website mimicking Pokémon’s legitimate anniversary branding.
The compromised post remained visible for approximately 30 minutes before being removed. The Pokémon Company issued a statement confirming the account had been “temporarily compromised,” publicly acknowledging the security breach.
The incident occurred ahead of the Pokémon World Championships, highlighting vulnerabilities in high-profile brand accounts and the growing threat of social engineering attacks targeting major companies. The hack demonstrates how cryptocurrency scams exploit trusted brand identities to deceive consumers, particularly through deceptive post formatting designed to mimic official communications.