We can’t say it enough, but beware of crypto scams!
No one is infallible and everyone is susceptible to succumbing.
Hacks, NFT Rug Pulls, crypto scams, fraudulent investments, fake romance (scam romance), copycat…
According to the FDC (Federal Trade Commission), no less than $680 million will be lost to crypto fraud in 2021.
That is 423% more than in 2020.
And guess what, we’re already at $329 million for the first quarter of 2022 (Q1) alone!
A great performance, indeed…
What to remember? On the one hand, that things are not getting any better, and on the other hand, that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Indeed, only a small percentage is recognized as such.
To learn more about how to detect crypto scams, it’s this way.
For the rest, we have prepared a top of the crypto scams that have left some marks with the crypto community.
OneCoin – the CryptoCoin is going down the drain
A scam model that works quite well in the financial system is the Ponzi pyramid .
The principle is simple: reward investors with the money of newcomers until the resources are exhausted.
And of course, without forgetting to leave with a well-stocked basket, then disappear.
This is exactly what the founder Ruja Ignatova also called “Cryptoqueen”, founder.
The latter disappeared in 2017 with an FBI warrant for her arrest in the amount of $100K.
Total: $4 billion evaporated.
BitConnect – the Gateway Hardware
BitConnect had built up quite a hype around its famous corner, the BitConnect Coin.
We can thank, by the way, a certain Carlos Matos, an investor who had oversold the project at a company ceremony in 2018, creating then the meme, the BitConnect Matos.
In short, some time later, the founder was suspected of being at the origin of a fraudulent scheme, again in the form of a Ponzi pyramid.
Total: $2.4 billion.
Thodex – under maintenance …
You know the myth of disappearing after going to buy the famous milk carton?
Well, that’s pretty much the story of Thodex, a Turkish crypto platform, headed by Fatih Ozer.
It all starts with the announcement of a 6-day maintenance period.
The 6 days will then turn into weeks, and then, nothing more.
Radio silence.
Total: $2 billion + an estimated 40,000 years in prison and nearly 400,000 people ruined.
FTX – pockets are meant to be filled
The latest one.
FTX was #2 behind Binance, weighing $32 billion at the time. Everything promised a bright future for the company, with renowned ambassadors, ensuring its continued existence.
Yes, but …
Several scams are going to be brought to light, all of them supposedly committed by the founder Samuel Bankman-Fried .
- The first was the use of FTX’s reserve funds to save another company it owned.
- The second, with repeated purchases of real estate in a region so well known to those who likes to play hide-and-seek with tax authority : the Bahamas.
All this cost FTX a lot of money as the cash coffers were simply emptied.
Chain reactions followed, including the sale of all their tokens by some large investors (to mention it, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao ).
A crash in the price and a blocking of withdrawals for most of the remaining customers.
Anyway…
And on top of that, the $447 million that was still to be saved was mysteriously stolen.
Total: the fall of the company and a tweet from the founder “I’m sorry. This is the most important thing. I screwed up, and I should have done better.”
Baller Apes – great promises!
To date one of the biggest scams on the Solana blockchain.
Baller Apes was the result of a nice project at the beginning, with the creation of a common wallet containing 500 SOL, airdrops, merch.
In fact, all social networks will be shut down, revealing that the investors’ wallets are directly linked to those of the founders.
Total: $2 million
Save the Kids – BA gone wrong
Crypto scams are as entertaining as they are despicable.
We change category with this supposed scam from influencers (mainly in gaming).
Let’s remember, moreover, that one of them, FaZe Kay a renowned gamer who had already been banned from fortnite for using a bot in 2019.
Beyond the drama and the accusations that have accompanied the various actors, we are still talking about a project that at the base was to allow the redistribution of earnings and investments for charity for disadvantaged children.
The technique used? Use their respective influence to push their subscribers to buy their newly created corner: the $KIDS.
This works perfectly, bringing down the price of the course.
A few technical elements to clarify that the team assured to have planned an anti-swimming mechanism to reduce the risks of massive resale of tokens.
Spoiler alert, it goes wrong: the code of the protocol is changed at the last minute with a resale of almost all the wallets of the latter.
Total: $30,000, and children who will never see the color of these donations.
Pincoin – trust the red flags
Just as in human relationships, one should never underestimate the first red flags when it comes to investment.
For Pincoin investors, it seems that the signals were not clear enough: a promise of ROI or return on investment of over 312%….
What’s next? Investors who walked away with over $600 million.
Pudgy Penguins – get the oars out!
Pudgy Penguins was one of the key NFT projects.
As the price continues to rise, the community invests, thinking they can take advantage of every opportunity.
In addition to this, the sale of merchandise to try to feed the project.
And … disappointment!
In January 2022, no action has really been taken, and again, the wallet of the founders turns out to be directly linked to the project.
$SQUID token – the game that never came
Playing with cultural trends is a great way to make money, as long as the trend continues.
Take for example the series Squid Game .
Investors were promised benefits and rewards on a pseudo video game being built.
Total: $3.3 million + scammers never identified.
Pixelmon NFT – the Pokémon didn’t ask for anything
Fan and supporter communities are the ones most likely to fall into the trap set by scammers.
For Pixelmon NFT, the promises were great: to merge the universe of Minecraft with that of Pokémons.
Yet a trailer promised quality.
Either the bar was set a little too high, or there was a bug along the way.
As a result, the quality of the graphics is very poor and the Pokémon are created in bits and pieces.
Special mention for the famous reproduction of Carapuce, nicknamed Kevin by the trolls.
So this was a look at some of the biggest crypto scams that have rocked the crypto-sphere in recent months and years. The list goes on, of course, but we’ll come back to that later.
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