Recently a cryptocurrency based on the hit Netflix series Squid Game became the subject of another crypto scam.
The founders of said cryptocurrency did what is called a ‘rug pull’ scam. They pump up the value of the cryptocurrency by getting everyone on board and cashed out immediately when the value reached its peak. Leaving everyone else on the floor and with no money.
Basically the founders of SQUID ran off with the investors’ money.
How Much Is It Worth Now
The cryptocurrency launched with a pre-sale price of just over 0.1USD. The price shot up throughout the past week, hitting close to 40USD (RM165.96) over the weekend.
SQUID, as it is known, peaked at more than 2,800USD (RM11,617.20) yesterday before the founders cashed in and virtually ran off with millions in their pockets.
SQUID is currently sitting at 0.005USD. Anyone that bought the currency lost money.
Covered By The Mainstream
This scam is a bit unique because SQUID was able to get so much mainstream attention in such a short time, something even influencer backed cryptocurrencies struggle to do.
Tech site Gizmodo pointed out that mainstream business and news sites have covered the Netflix series based cryptocurrency last week with headlines like;
“Squid Game cryptocurrency rockets in first few days of trading” from BBC and Fortune‘s “Squid Game’ crypto is up more than 86,000% in a week”.
The coverage did mention the red flags of the currency. However is it often concealed several paragraphs down. The average crypto investor is looking to make money fast and may have purchased SQUID only after reading the headlines.
A Bit Too Obvious
Those who have seen or experienced a “rug pull” know what to look out for and according to Mashable the currency is an obvious scam.
Starting with the fact that the domain is called “SquidGame.cash” without any authorisation from Netflix.
Another red flag pointed that was pointed out is that all their social media channels limit the users from replying or starting conversations.
CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency price tracker warned about how SQUID users are having trouble selling the currency for real money.
It was caused by the founders who put in an an anti-sell-off mechanism in the currency.
The mechanism was claimed to be a way to stop large investors from pumping and dumping the coin on their own.
If buyers wanted to cash in, they have to swap their SQUID for another cryptocurrency called Marbles token first. However when buyers attempted this trade-in, the price swap to Marbles came at a loss.
A side note on Marbles; it is also a rug pull scam, the website has been taken down earlier yesterday morning.
