Creators of “Squid Game” Crypto Steal $2.1M Plunging it to $0

Creators behind a crypto called SQUID based off popular Netflix series Squid Game have effectively cashed out the project stealing over 2.1 million dollars.

The digital currency, SQUID, which had surged as high as $2,861 plummeted to $0 as of Monday following the rug pull.

A rug pull in the digital currency world means cashing out of crypto coins in exchange for real money, rapidly devaluing its value.

SQUID’s billing was for tokens that could be used for a new online game inspired by the popular Netflix series.

However, there were red flags associated with it. For one, the SQUID crypto coin was barely a week old and it was facilitated by a three-week old website marred with plenty of bizarre spelling and grammatical errors.

Another red flag was that the creators could purchase the crypto but couldn’t sell it. Consequently, the crypto’s SQUID’s Telegram channel set up by the unknown hucksters did not allow comments from outsiders. Also, the Twitter account made it impossible for anyone to reply to posts.

ALSO READ: Investing in REITs – The Options, and How the Kenyan Market Works

The website, which was hosted at SquidGame.cash, has disappeared, along with every social media handles associated with it.

A lot of investors, who were warned by CoinMarketCap and Gizmodo, did not realize these red flags too soon – or they probably ignored them.

CoinMarketCap displayed a warning to investors to “exercise extreme caution” if they bought the crypto.

Their ignorance, or negligence, was perhaps overshadowed by different news sites reporting that the new crypto had increased by 83,000 percent in only a few days. May of them saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This particular rug pull is the latest example of scammers exploiting pop culture to attract attention.

A similar incident happened earlier in 2021 with another cryptocurrency called Mando, based on the series The Mandalorian. Mando used images from the Disney+’s hit TV show—without permission from Disney.

Scammers love the crypto space since it is incredibly difficult to tell them apart from the legit creators. In light of these situations, does it mean that investors will now be careful when they encounter shady cryptocurrencies?

Hopefully so.