Data shared by the PeckShieldAlert account on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) has sounded the alarm about a new crypto rugpull spotted today.
This time, scammers have used the name of the highly popular series produced by Netflix called “Squid Game.”
"Squid Game" inspires scammers to launch token
The aforementioned X post warned the crypto community to beware of tokens that use the stunning popularity of the South Korean series on Netflix to scam users and get hold of their funds.
According to PeckShieldAlert, the scam token in question was deployed on the layer-2 Base solution created by the U.S.-based Coinbase exchange several hours ago. Its creator wallet was the coin’s largest holder. By now, the token price has dropped 99%.
Such a massive price decline after a big rise is indicative of a rugpull, when creators begin selling their token holdings once the price reaches a peak. In this case, the price crashed from $0.1442 to $0.0000000000001269.
#PeckShieldAlert Beware of scam #SquidGame tokens circulating in the wild. We have detected a fraudulent #SquidGame token deployed on #Base just 3 hours ago, with the deployer as the largest holder. The token has dropped 99%. pic.twitter.com/EIdaUldzaF
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) December 27, 2024
CoinMarketCap offers data on several tokens with a SQUID ticker, but the aforesaid crypto is not among them since it was launched only today and has already proved to be a scam.
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Infamous "Squid Game" 2021 scam token
A similar story first emerged in 2021 when a Squid Game token scam (SQUID) was launched, gaining traction fast due to the huge popularity of the series’ first season. The token was promoted as a “play-to-earn” crypto, which allowed holders to take part in online games inspired by the South Korean TV show.
That token’s value skyrocketed in a meteoric rise pretty fast – by thousands of percentage points in just a single week, peaking at an astounding $2,856 per unit. The project was created by an anonymous group of developers, while their official website and social media channels were full of multiple grammatical errors. Besides, the developers avoided any clear communication with the crypto community.
On Nov. 1, 2021, the developer team performed a rugpull as they abruptly withdrew more than $3 million of investor funds, which pushed the token’s price almost down to zero.
Following that, the website of the project and its accounts on social media were deleted, while investors and holders were left with massive financial losses and no hope of recovering their money.