Notorious Rug Pull Incidents in the Cryptocurrency Community

[Unblock Media] - Cryptocurrency community losses to scams by May 2024 amount to $472.32 million - With rising rug pulls, investors must do more thorough research As the cryptocurrency market gains popularity, the number of new investors is increasing. However, instances of scams such as crypto scams and rug pulls are also on the rise. By May 2024, the cryptocurrency community experienced losses totaling over $472.32 million across 108 incidents. This figure represents a decrease of approximately 20% compared to the $595.43 million reported during the same period in 2023. Nevertheless, fraudulent activities remain a significant concern. In particular, scams like rug pulls are rampant in the meme coin market, accounting for over 65% of all attacks in the third quarter of 2023. Rug pulls involve the sudden abandonment of a cryptocurrency project by its team or founders, leading to the theft of investors' funds. These scams typically occur after significant funds have been raised and are challenging to predict. Recently, YouTuber Coffeezilla (Steven Findaysen) tricked Bellator MMA fighter Dillon Danis into promoting a fake NFT project. Coffeezilla's team paid Danis $1,000 to post a tweet without disclosing it as an advertisement. The link Danis promoted led users to a webpage detailing his past scandals. This incident highlights that cryptocurrency projects promoted by influencers may not always be accurate or fair. Let's examine some of the most significant rug pull cases. First, the OneCoin scam is one of the largest cryptocurrency pyramid schemes, which raised approximately $4 billion before defrauding many investors. Founder Ruja Ignatova disappeared in October 2017 and is currently on the FBI's most wanted list. She lured investors by claiming OneCoin would replace Bitcoin, but the coin was never actually traded and was based on a fake goldmine using SQL servers. Her brother, Konstantin Ignatov, was arrested and pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering. Second, the Thodex scheme, which occurred in April 2021, involved the disappearance of $2 billion in investors' funds. Turkish founder Faruk Fatih Ozer halted trading, claiming he would safeguard the funds but then vanished. He was arrested in Albania, and Turkey has sought a total sentence of 40,564 years on charges related to the fraud. Third, the AnubisDAO fraud raised 13,597 Ethereum in 24 hours before transferring the funds to another address, deceiving investors. AnubisDAO was a project mimicking OlympusDAO and is currently inactive. Fourth, the Squid Game token fraud exploited the popularity of the Netflix series, raising $3.3 million before the team disappeared. This project operated on Binance SmartChain, and a Twitch streamer documented the scam live. Lastly, the Mutant Ape Planet scam involved a project that imitated the popular Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, with the developer absconding with $2.9 million. Main perpetrator Aurelian Michel was arrested in New York and faces charges of economic fraud. Rug pulls in cryptocurrency projects pose a severe threat to investors, resulting in significant losses. It's crucial to thoroughly review the team's credentials, the whitepaper details, and community trustworthiness, and to exercise caution with new cryptocurrency projects.