One of the most played shows of 2021 entering the crypto scene in the form of a new token, to many it seemed like an investment opportunity too good to miss. However, what actually happened was an opportunity too good to be true. The token reportedly had its pre-sale in October and apparently sold out in “a second”, according to its whitepaper. The Squid Game Token was even praised by media giants Forbes and Yahoo, and its value sensationally reached an all-time high of nearly $3,000 within a few weeks. Despite this, problems soon began.
Buyers were quick to complain that they were unable to sell the tokens they purchased, not to mention that the token was never officially associated with the Squid Game to begin with. This inability to sell the Squid Game Token was due to its creators having built a mechanism into the token that prevented holders from selling, beyond the few that the scam was intended to benefit. This was simply a media and pop culture enriched version of a typical pump-and-discard scheme, where the value of a token intentionally increases through social media promotion and FOMO tactics, and ultimately collapses when some whales sell their property for personal purposes. win.
Africrypt rug handle
South African Bitcoin investment firm Africrypt was run by two brothers, Raees and Ameer Cajee. Claiming to be one of the largest and most successful commercial AI companies in Africa, they have amassed $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin among their clients. Then they disappeared and their investors’ money disappeared from the Africrypt platform. Initially, they told customers that they were victims of a hack. However, the brothers remain missing and are being sought for arrest. Africrypt investors are still trying to recover lost funds.
Poly Network Invasion
Ironically, one of the biggest crypto heists ever carried out was one where the funds were returned to their owners. In August, a hacker found a flaw in the Poly Network DeFi platform that allowed them to steal over $600 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, the hacker contacted Poly Network and informed them that his intention was always to return the funds. At first, the pirates restored almost half of it, but eventually returned the final portion of the stolen coins.
How not to be scammed in 2022
Few individual crypto wallets will be targeted by elite hacking groups like Poly Network; however, the average crypto wallet user needs to have a certain level of vigilance when dealing with day-to-day cryptographic operations on their own. The attacks occur on a much smaller scale, but generally imply that the user falls into the trap, such as clicking on a phishing link in a DM or in an email from someone who has passed as a person or trusted entity In space. Beware of convincing communications that use the same logos, profile pictures, and names you already know and are familiar with, such as fake interactions with MetaMask. In 2022, the NFT artist RXSE had a Coolman NFT stolen from her wallet and sold it for 1.3 ETH because she was a victim of a “Fake Metamask”.
With regard to pull-pull and pump-and-dump schemes, the fundamental care to be taken before investing in a project is research, and a lot. However, delving into the origins of smart contracts and the intent behind their creators (if you can find out who they are) can be challenging without the necessary technical knowledge.
To help give the DeFi community an edge when it comes to carrying out the extensive research needed on the tokens and their respective projects, a company called RiseUp has developed a BSC token and technology called “Rug Screener” to fight crypto industry fraud. . Rug Screener provides investors with the information they need to know about a project to help them decide whether or not it is safe to invest in it. By aggregating cross-platform research tools, RiseUp’s RugScreener can quickly provide potential investors with information about any smart contract, such as contract details, who is the creator of the contract, project liquidity and much more. Rug Screener even has a scoring system that warns the user if it thinks the project is unsafe.