Squid Game-Inspired Crypto Token Crashes by 99.99 Percent, Creators Vanish With Over $3 Million

The cybercriminals behind this scam project remain unidentified.

By Radhika Parashar | Updated: 2 November 2021 11:18 IST

Squid Game-Inspired Crypto Token Crashes by 99.99 Percent, Creators Vanish With Over $3 Million

Cybercriminals have been targeting more crypto-investors lately, reports reveal

Highlights

Squid Game-inspired cryptocurrency SQUID emerges as a scam
Scammers have vanished with over $3.3 million (roughly Rs. 22 crores)
Identity of the cyber criminals remain unknown as of now

Following the success of South Korean survival drama series Squid Game, a cryptocurrency called the “Squidgame Cash” or “SQUID,” dedicated to the mini television series made it into the crypto-pool. The value of this token nosedived by 99.99 percent in recent hours after SQUID creators managed to stunt out a classic “rug pull”. That's a scam where developers abandon the project and dupe investors off their money. The crypto-coin had registered a 300 percent value growth on October 30, but lost its value from $2,800 (Rs. 2 lakh), to its current price – which is $0.003347 (roughly Rs. 0.25).

The scammers are believed to have collected around $3.3 million (roughly Rs. 22 crore) with this project, a report by Gizmodo claimed.

Inspired by the survival series, an online version of the Squid Game was launched online, and to play the game, participants were required to use the SQUID crypto token. Owing to the popularity of the Netflix series, the SQUID tokens had was received in the market with fireworks.

Squid Game Mania Pushes Cryptocurrency 300 Percent in 24 Hours

But immediately concerns arose around the legitimacy of this SQUID token because only purchasing the crypto-coin was allowed, but selling it was not an option.

Scam they will give you the website so you can withdraw and the site will ask for your wallet seedphrase?!! What a scam. Now they just blocked me. https://t.co/IGIVMuewyG pic.twitter.com/S5YEMj2Q1F
— Michelle Jariol (@MichelleJariol) October 23, 2021

The website of the SQUID token which was registered on October 12, less than even a month ago, has now been rendered defunct.

“We have received multiple reports that the website and socials are no longer functional and the users are not able to sell this token in Pancakeswap. Please do your own due diligence and exercise extreme caution. This project, while clearly inspired by the Netflix show of the same name, is not affiliated with the official IP,” a banner flashing on the CoinMarketCap says.

How Netflix’s Squid Game Reflects South Korea's Real-Life Debt Trap

While scammers responsible for this crypto rug-pull remain unidentified as of now, the development created ripples on social media.

This is not the first time that a popular TV show was misused to scam its fans by notorious cybercriminals.

Earlier this year, scammers targeted the fans of Disney's Mandalorian streaming show with a crypto-token called “Mando” – that unfolded into a pump-and-dump scam, news portals had reported at the time.

Earlier in April, a report had revealed that the total crypto crime in 2020 has amounted to around $10.52 billion (roughly Rs. 79,194 crores).

The same report also highlighted that scams and frauds have plagued the crypto-space and are a major problem that made for 67.8 percent of the total cryptocurrency crime in 2020.

Analyst firm Chainalysis in a recent report had revealed that at least $815 million (roughly Rs. 6,135 crores) was sent in crypto to scam projects from Eastern European countries between July 2020 and June 2021.

Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, scam, crypto scam, Squid Game, Squid Token

Radhika Parashar

Email Radhika

Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More