- The MBAPPE scam exploited footballer Kylian Mbappé’s fame, causing massive investor losses.
- July 2024 saw hacks dominate crypto losses, overshadowing fraud.
As a seasoned researcher who has witnessed the evolution of the digital economy, I find myself constantly amazed and sometimes disheartened by the relentless wave of scams that plagues the crypto space. The MBAPPE scam, which exploited footballer Kylian Mbappé’s fame, is a stark reminder of the dangers lurking in this wild frontier.
On August 29th, a troubling event shook up the cryptocurrency world when it was discovered that MBAPPE, a popular memecoin, was being used in a fraudulent scheme.
Unauthorized users managed to seize control over Kylian Mbappé’s old Twitter account, using it to spread false information about a digital token.
The scheme deceived investors, including one who invested 7,156 SOL (around $1.03 million).
Its aftermath
Initially, there was elation, but this rapidly transformed into distress as the coin’s worth dropped dramatically, down to only $9,200 within an hour, essentially erasing almost all the initial investment.
On Lookonchain, the deception was unveiled as they disclosed information about X, providing insights into how the deceitful plan was carried out.
“This person lost more than $1M in just 1 hour!”
Shocked by the sudden news, X user Sweep said,
It seems there’s a discrepancy that needs addressing. My assumption is that they had full permissions. Perhaps the logs weren’t deleted or new tokens were created without authorization, or maybe the authentication function wasn’t activated – I’m just speculating.
How was the scam executed?
The MBAPPE scam revealed the dangers of exploiting celebrity names for fraudulent schemes.
As a crypto investor, I jumped at the opportunity when I noticed the token’s value soaring on the user-friendly Pump.fun platform, only to find out later that it was due to misleading promotions falsely associated with soccer sensation Kylian Mbappé.
Although some investors suffered large losses when the coin’s worth dropped sharply, a number of smart traders actually earned substantial profits.
One investor turned $29 into $125,000 in minutes, while another made $200,000 by selling at the coin’s peak.
This event clearly highlights the ongoing dangers linked to meme cryptocurrencies, demonstrating that popular accounts can be manipulated to deceive potential investors.
Rise in crypto scams
The MBAPPE scam is not an isolated case; similar incidents have occurred in recent months.
On June 26th, the Metallica social media account was illegitimately taken over and used to advertise a Solana-based token named METAL.
In the coming month, the social media account of rapper Doja Cat was used without her knowledge to promote a fake cryptocurrency investment opportunity. This deception led to financial losses totaling approximately $1.6 million for the investors involved.
As a result of increased instances of cryptocurrency fraud, ImmuneFi’s July 2024 report titled “Crypto Losses in July 2024” further disclosed that thieves have managed to swipe more than $1.2 billion in the year so far.
“So far this year (YTD), we’ve experienced a total loss of approximately $1.19 billion due to hacks and rug pulls across 149 separate instances. This is a notable 16.3% rise compared to the same period in 2023, which saw a loss of around $1.02 billion.”
In fact, July 2024 saw hacks as the leading cause of crypto losses, overshadowing fraud.
In my analysis, I found that just 1.1% of the overall losses could be attributed to fraudulent activities, whereas an overwhelming 98.9% were due to hacking incidents during the given month.
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2024-08-30 07:04