For a few tense hours on Tuesday morning, FC Barcelona’s Instagram account stopped sounding like the world-famous football club — and started appearing like a crypto hustler.
The FC Barcelona hack happened early on October 7, catching the club’s digital team off guard. For nearly four hours, the fraudulent post remained live, accumulating thousands of likes and comments before anyone could remove it.
How the Barcelona Instagram hack unfolded
The verified page, which has more than 130 million followers, was hacked and used to promote a fake $FCB token supposedly launching on the Solana blockchain. The scam post looked slick enough to fool casual fans — complete with the club’s logo, colors, and a professional caption announcing an “exclusive NFT drop.”
By the time the club regained control, the damage was done — the post had spread widely, and screenshots were circulating across X (formerly Twitter).
Some fans quickly realized something was off and flooded the comments section with warnings like “Don’t click the link — this is a scam!”
Crypto scam with a familiar playbook
The hackers used a familiar strategy: mix crypto hype with trusted branding to bait followers. By naming the fake coin “$FCB” and tying it to Solana, they made the post sound both official and credible. It’s a move straight out of the social engineering playbook — rely on urgency, reputation, and design polish to make people drop their guard.
What happens next for the club
Barcelona hasn’t yet released an official statement explaining the breach or what security gaps allowed it. Still, the Barcelona account hack has already reignited a bigger conversation: if one of the world’s biggest sports brands can be compromised this easily, who’s really safe online?
