EtherWrapped, a project designed to provide a yearly summary of users nonfungible token (NFT) activity, launched a little over eight hours ago to palpable fanfare within the crypto community. The website detailed a plan to airdrop YEAR tokens based upon quantitative engagement statistics in users' MetaMask wallet, or in simpler terms, their number of transactions, volume traded, a gas fees, among other data. Upon verification on EtherScan, a number of well-regarded developers and engineering experts in the space assessed the coding of the smart contract. Meows.eth noted that these parties saw a “presence of a function titled _burnMechanism,” but concluded …

Public blockchain network Terra has confirmed an ongoing scam attack via an official governance poll on Mirror, an in-house synthetic assets protocol. According to Mirror, the attacker launched a public poll on Mirror’s official website, which proposes a freeze on the community pool in case of a scam. NEW MIRROR POLL! ALERT: Poll 211 is SCAM -- sending 25,000,000 MIR to itself ... #vote on 212: https://t.co/FH6RqTbJ2j $MIR $LUNA #terra — Mirror Polls (@mirror_polls) December 25, 2021 According to Poll ID: 211, named “Freeze the community pool in case of scam”, the scammer proposes an upgrade of safer community governance …

This year has been monumental for the cryptocurrency sector in terms of mainstream adoption. A recent report published by Grayscale Investments found that more than one-quarter of United States investors (26%) surveyed own Bitcoin (BTC), up from 23% in 2020. With the holidays around the corner, financial services provider MagnifyMoney also found that nearly two-thirds of surveyed Americans hope to receive cryptocurrency as a gift this year. While crypto’s growth is notable, there has also been an increase in the number of scams associated with digital assets. A Chainalysis blog post highlighting the company’s “2022 Crypto Crime Report” revealed that …

On Tuesday, Solana nonfungible token (NFT) project Monkey Kingdom, which has received notable backing from American DJ Steve Aoki, announced via Twitter that hackers made off with $1.3 million of the community's crypto funds through a security breach on Discord. According to its developers, the hack first occurred with the breach of Grape, a popular solution for verifying users on Solana. Hackers then used the exploit to take over an administrative account, which posted a phishing link in the Monkey Kingdom Discord's announcement channel. Users who followed the link connected their wallets expecting they would receive an NFT but instead …

The official Twitter account of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi got compromised earlier today, which was then used to share misleading information about the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and redistribution of 500 BTC among the Indian citizens. On Dec. 10, Modi said in a virtual event virtual summit hosted by US President Joe Biden that technologies such as cryptocurrencies should be used to empower democracy and not undermine it: “By working together, democracies can meet the aspirations of our citizens and celebrate the democratic spirit of humanity.” While the long-awaited Lok Sabha Winter Session, a parliamentary meetup intended to …

Hong Kong-based gaming and venture capital company Animoca Brands and subsidiary Blowfish Studios have promised users that they will repay 265 ETH (US$1.1 million) stolen in a fraudulent nonfungible token (NFT) sale on D`iscord. The fraudulent minting event occurred at approximately 3 AM AEDT on Nov 19 on the Phantom Galaxies Discord server. It saw 1,571 fake minting transactions over the course of about three hours. Phantom Galaxies is an upcoming Australian game being developed by Blowfish Studios. The Phantom Galaxies Discord server has 94,000 members. In an increasingly common occurrence on Discord, hackers gained control of the official Phantom …

The team behind meme cryptocurrency Shiba Inu (SHIB) has issued a public warning against ongoing online scams that primarily target altcoin investors interested in SHIB tokens. The proactive scam alert came in the form of a tweet detailing the various methods used to dupe unsuspecting victims from the Shiba Inu community. Stay Alert & Safe #ShibArmy! We've been made aware of a recent scam, traveling social media, and other communication platforms. Here's a quick video to provide more information on the matter. pic.twitter.com/UOh50WsJSQ — Shib (@Shibtoken) November 21, 2021 The warning further stated, “A fake Shiba Telegram group is being …

In our latest in-depth video, Cointelegraph shares six key tips on how to increase your safety when investing in DeFi by identifying rug pulls — One of the most widespread types of crypto scams. Booming growth coupled with a lack of oversight by traditional authorities has attracted an influx of fraudsters to the DeFi ecosystem. According to a recent report by Ciphertrace, while overall fraudulent activity in crypto is decreasing, rug pull scams in DeFi have been on the rise in 2021. In the typical rug pull, bad actors create a worthless token and list it on a decentralized exchange, …

An admin account for Beeple’s official Discord group was compromised overnight resulting in a fake NFT drop that saw users lose an estimated 38 ETH. An admin from Beeple's Discord named "Multi" confirmed to the group on Nov. 10 that their account had been compromised despite having 2FA. The perpetrator went on to impersonate Multi and the Beeple Announcements Bot to promote a fake NFT drop from Beeple on Nifty Gateway. The incident is the latest in a long line of Discord hacks that have caused users substantial losses. Discord members were primed to expect Beeple to run a cheap …

The world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance, has launched an inquiry into the Squid Game token to trace funds associated with the epic 45,000% pump and dump a few days ago. The Binance Smart Chain-based gaming token SQUID is suspected to be an exit scam or rug pull according to the exchange. Despite this, some extremely optimistic users are still buying the token in hope of a resurrection, with the price surging six fold in the past 24 hours. Binance is exploring options to assist those that bought the token and lost out in the crash. It is reportedly blacklisting addresses …

A cryptocurrency inspired by Netflix's internationally hit TV show "Squid Game" scammed investors in what appears to be a $3.38 million "rug pull" scheme. Dubbed "SQUID," the cryptocurrency plunged to almost a fraction of a cent minutes after crossing over $2,850 at 09:35 UTC, Nov. 1. The deadly drop surfaced following a 75,000% bull run, showcasing a greater demand for SQUID among traders after its debut on Oct. 26. At the core of the retail craze lay the popularity of Squid Game. The scammers promoted SQUID as a play-to-earn cryptocurrency inspired by the South Korean TV fictional show in which …

The issuer of a controversial cryptocurrency that can only be sold in batches of $125 daily on a single exchange is facing pushback from an Australian law firm. Queensland-based law firm Salerno Law plans to file a lawsuit accusing BPS Financial Limited — the company behind the QOIN token — of engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct, pyramid selling of financial products, and failing to comply with financial services regulations. The lawsuit will seek $100 million in damages. Salerno Law, which specialises in crypto disputes, started collecting expressions of interest from investors and merchants who had incurred losses as a …