Scammers Created Cryptocurrency Based on "Squid Game" and Stole $3.3 Million From Investors

Even before the sale, there were reports that the purchased crypto coins could not be sold.

The anonymous creators of the cryptocurrency Squid, inspired by the Korean series "Squid Game," shut down the project after pocketing about $3.3 million. This is reported by Gizmodo and hromadske.

The outlet notes that this was obvious fraud already because investors could buy the cryptocurrency but could not sell it. But many did not receive the warning in time.

Among other signs, the Squid Telegram channel did not allow comments from outsiders. And the Twitter account did not allow anyone to reply to messages.

According to the CoinMarketCap website, the Squid cryptocurrency peaked at $2,861 and then instantly fell to zero. The creators quickly withdrew the coins for real money.

Shortly before that, in their Telegram channel, they reported that hackers were trying to hack the project. They stated that they would not continue working, as they were "overwhelmed by constant attacks from scammers and are under continuous stress".

What is known about the cryptocurrency

The digital coin was created for allegedly settling accounts in an online tournament "Squid Game." The organizers said it would start in November 2021. Its participants were promised six rounds of games based on the series of the same name.

The monitoring resource CoinMarketCap had already published a warning at that time that some users complained they could not sell this cryptocurrency on the popular exchange Pancakeswap.

However, this did not stop the largest global media outlets from covering the unprecedented 83,000% surge of the cryptocurrency within a day.

Similar cases

Gizmodo notes that this is just the latest example of scammers using pop culture to attract media attention.

Earlier this year, a similar attention grab happened with Mando, a cryptocurrency that used images from the Disney TV show "The Mandalorian" without the corporation's permission.

"Scammers love the crypto space because it is incredibly hard to tell scammers apart from those who sincerely try to create a legitimate cryptocurrency, perhaps because the idea of creating your own currency is inherently fraudulent," Gizmodo noted.

If you are going to buy cryptocurrency, the most important thing to look at is not necessarily the price, Gizmodo noted. First find out whether you can sell the coin after you buy it. If the rules say you cannot even sell it, you are simply being deceived.

About the series

In the plot of "Squid Game," 456 people, most of whom face serious financial problems, accept an invitation to take part in a mysterious survival tournament. Only one person can remain alive and take the main prize of $38.5 million.

"Squid Game" ranks first in popularity on the streaming platform Netflix in almost 100 countries, including Ukraine. In less than a month, 111 million users watched the series on Netflix.