Microsoft’s official X account, followed by more than 13 million people, was hijacked on October 1 and briefly used to promote a fraudulent $Clippy cryptocurrency. The account followed and reposted a Clippy-themed profile, changed its picture to the retired paperclip assistant, and amplified claims that the token’s liquidity pool was paired with Microsoft’s $MSFT ticker. Microsoft said it neither authorized nor endorsed any cryptocurrency connected to Clippy, Microsoft or the MSFT ticker, then secured the account and removed posts that did not originate from the company. The roughly 30-minute incident reflected a recurring meme-coin scam tactic in which attackers compromise trusted social-media accounts to give newly created tokens apparent legitimacy. It also fits a wider pattern of fake branded tokens and high-profile account compromises; blockchain investigator ZachXBT said an earlier campaign involving 15 hacked accounts generated nearly $500,000.