Squid Game Crypto Coin Scam Revealed

With Squid Recreation being one of many hottest reveals on Netflix proper now, SQUID, a brand new trending cryptocurrency named for the present capitalised off its reputation. Nevertheless, on Monday, the token hit a excessive of simply over $2,860 earlier than plummeting to just about zero as its unknown creators cleaned out round $3.3 million in funds. 

That is termed a “rug pull”, the place cryptocurrency token creators abandon the challenge and trade digital cash for precise money. This drains the liquidity from the product and successfully drives the coin’s worth to zero leaving different traders frolicked to dry. 

Marketed as a play to earn cryptocurrency, SQUID reportedly allowed consumers to partake in on-line variations of the video games seen within the South Korean TV collection (although Netflix has denied any affiliation with the cryptocurrency).

The token was launched final month and gained reputation immediately, fueled partly by the hype across the eponymous TV present in addition to the promotions on social media platforms like Twitter and Telegram. The worth of the coin rose by greater than 23 million per cent, from round only one cent to tapping out at $2861.80.

“This cryptocurrency joins an extended and rising checklist of digital cash and tokens that piggyback on random memes or cultural phenomena,” Cornell College economist Eswar Prasad informed the BBC. “Remarkably, many such cash quickly catch traders’ fancy, resulting in wildly inflated valuations. Naïve retail traders who get caught up in such speculative frenzies face the chance of considerable losses.”

Cryptocurrency Purple Flags

Although its traders have misplaced thousands and thousands collectively, based on many retailers there have been a number of purple flags that recommended the cryptocurrency wasn’t to be trusted. With an internet site stuffed with spelling and grammatical errors and their social media channels not supporting replies or feedback, the most important telltale signal was how nobody who bought the coin was in a position to promote.

Crypto professional, Louis Schoeman, Managing Director of Foreign exchange Counsel, cautions the general public and advises tips on how to keep away from being the sufferer of a rip-off coin:

“Whereas new cash seem day-after-day, folks ought to all the time be cautious of shopping for a token with no historical past and by no means make investments cash you’ll be able to’t afford to lose. Whereas new cash can have all of the bells and whistles and promise enormous returns, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 

“Scammers know tips on how to enchantment to folks. They take trusted, recognisable names, like Squid Recreation, to piggyback off its international success and lure folks into investing. They dupe folks into believing there’s some form of affiliation with actual credentials, when actually it’s all a rip-off.   

“To keep away from being the sufferer of a crypto rip-off, have a look at the finer particulars and take your time to evaluate the token. Totally learn over the whitepaper to examine for spelling and grammatical errors – does it look skilled or shortly thrown collectively? In case you copy and paste a bit of the textual content and run it by means of a search engine you’ll be able to simply see if it has been taken from one other coin’s web page which is a fast giveaway that one thing isn’t proper. In case you do some normal analysis you need to be capable to assess how respected an organization is.

“By no means ship your cash or cryptocurrency to a platform you don’t fully belief and solely use an trade you belief which doesn’t cost astronomical charges. If alarm bells begin ringing then take heed to your intuition and maintain off. For example, being unable to promote the cash you have got purchased ought to be an instantaneous purple flag.  

“It may be simple to see numerous folks leaping on a brand new coin and wish to get entangled too, however be certain it’s the proper funding for you.”