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$500M Lost in Memecoin Scams: Here’s How They Did It

In 2024, crypto investors lost over $500 million to memecoin rug pulls and scams, according to Merkle Science. The most common scams involved social engineering, where hackers impersonate celebrities or tech figures to manipulate markets. A notable case involved French footballer Kylian Mbappe’s X account being compromised, leading to a memecoin scam that reached a $460 million market cap before collapsing. Another scam targeted music artist Wiz Khalifa’s 35.7 million followers, promoting a fake WIZ token that peaked at a $3.4 million market cap before plummeting. These scams exploit trust on a large scale, with 75% of attacks occurring on X and 19% on YouTube. Social engineering scams resulted in 44% of rug pulls, while phishing attacks accounted for another 44% of all scams.

Source: www.coindesk.com

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