Entertainment
Hacked: Tom Holland caught in a web of SpiderVerse crypto scam; cryptic tweets surface online
If you’re wondering why Tom Holland is trending again, it’s not because he served another one of his “relationship goals” with Zendaya or some Spider-Man 4 tease leaked online. This time, the usual Peter Parker-shaped absence of the actor from his social media has been mired in fear as he supposedly slung in to shoot a web of Spider-Verse-themed cryptocurrency on his X/Twitter account.
Don’t worry. He doesn’t actually want you to invest in NFTs. Holland presumably just got hacked.
Tom Holland’s Twitter hacked
On Tuesday, April 16 (US time), the beloved British actor seemingly posted a cryptic tweet announcing his “partnership with @Binance in the launch of Spiderverse.” The tweet featured a Spider-Verse-themed link, ‘spiderverse.app,’ as Holland allegedly pushed his fans to “register to get early access to $SPIDER coin and Spiderverse NFTs.”
The 27-year-old heartthrob has never previously peddled cryptocurrency, but his absenteeism on his social media platform likely served as the ideal ground for his account to be hacked. While this initial tweet pushing the so-called Spiderverse NFT was eventually taken down, his X/Twitter was also modified to plaster the link as an identity banner on his bio.
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However, no such development fared online on his Instagram profile. Moreover, the official Binance account didn’t promote any such “partnership” with Tom on its socials either. With all signs pointing towards a potential hack, some early-captured screenshots also showed a mysterious man’s selfie emerging on the actor’s X profile subsequently.
The now-deleted post displayed an inverted face reveal of the presumed hacker in a mask, which was pulled down to his chin. The curly-haired individual, potentially the hacker himself, captioned the post, “would u kiss me while i hang from my web xxx,” referencing the iconic upside-down kiss from the original Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man flick.
This hack’s timing also crazily coincides with Sam Raimi’s 2002 directorial’s return to select movie theatres on April 15.
Meanwhile, stumped internet users banded to the microblogging platform to check out the hassle. While many were initially utterly confused about the developments, word of the hinted hack spread quickly.
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As always, fans took this chance to meme the situation as tweets stating, “How do you hack Tom Holland’s Twitter account and make the stupidest tweets ever instead of having ur chance to fake tease Spider-Man 4 and go crazy?” surfaced online.
On the flip side, others were just relieved to find out they hadn’t lost their much-loved web-slinger to the crypto scheme. Someone wrote online: “okay nvm tom holland was hacked 🙏🏻 he is redeemed really thought we lost another man to disappointment!”
A different take on the issue focussed on how Holland’s online truancy also impeded him from being vocally supportive of his Romeo & Juliet West End Play co-star Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, who was barraged with backlash and racist remarks once the casting news made it to the internet. One Twitterati wrote in response to this case: “Tom Holland got hacked and this is how we get him to come back online and defend his costar.”