Altcoin SNM’s 4,000% Price Surge in 24 Hours Fuels Pump and Dump Claims

November 20, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Alameda on the radar of BitDAO community for alleged dump of BIT tokens

November 8, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Bybit co-founder Ben Zhou stated that while no wrong-doing is confirmed, the BitDAO community would like to see proof of fund from Alameda.

The recent concerns related to the volatility of FTX Token (FTT) seeped into FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s other business operation, Alameda Research, as the BitDAO community requested information about Alameda’s BitDao (BIT) holding commitment.

On Nov. 2, 2021, BitDAO swapped 100 million BIT tokens with Alameda in exchange for 3,362,315 FTT tokens with a public commitment to hold each other’s tokens for three years, so until Nov. 2, 2024. Given the rising uncertainties and speculations, the BitDAO community was quick to react to the sudden fall of BIT prices on Nov. 8, 2022, suspecting Alameda of dumping the BIT tokens and breaching the three-year mutual no-sale public commitment.

*BIT market price chart (1 day). Source: CoinMarketCap*

To narrow down the reasons for BIT’s price drop, the BitDAO community requested an allowance for monitoring and verifying Alameda’s commitment to holding BIT tokens. BitDAO provided proof of honoring its side of the commitment by sharing an address that shows BitDAO Treasury holding all 3,362,315 FTT tokens.

In return, the community gave Alameda a deadline of 24 hours to prove its commitment, requesting that:

“The preferred method is for Alameda to transfer the 100 million $BIT tokens to an on-chain (non-exchange) address for the BitDAO community to verify, and hold until the end of the agreement.”

Ben Zhou, the co-founder of crypto exchange Bybit, summed up the matter by stating that while nothing is confirmed, the BitDAO community wants to confirm proof of funds from Alameda.

Standing up against the accusation, Caroline Ellison, the CEO at Alameda Research, confirmed no wrongdoing from the company’s end and promised to share the proof of funds, telling Zhou that:

“Busy at the moment but that wasn’t us, will get you proof of funds when things calm down.”

BitDAO’s proposal to request for Alameda’s funds proof was accompanied by vague warning:

“If this request is not fulfilled, and if sufficient alternative proof or response is not provided, it will be up to the BitDAO community to decide (vote, or any other emergency action) how to deal with the $FTT in the BitDAO Treasury.”

Alex Svanevik, the CEO of blockchain analytics platform Nansen, investigated the on-chain data to find that Mirana Ventures — Bybit’s venture capital arm — withdrew 100 million BIT from FTX. However, he advised the crypto community not to fall for speculations, as withdrawing funds doesn’t mean Alameda is selling.

From Nov. 6, numerous FTX users faced problems while withdrawing their funds from the exchanges, such as delays and failures.

FTX addressed the concerns raised by investors by highlighting the smooth operation of the matching engine. However, the exchange agreed on delays with Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals due to limited node throughput.

In addition, users facing delays in stablecoin withdrawals were told that withdrawal speeds would get back to normal after banks resumed operations during the weekdays.

‘I’ve done nothing wrong’ — Lark Davis denies ‘pump-and-dump’ allegations

September 30, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain data

Davis claimed he received nothing for free from the projects it's alleged he profited from, and the amounts he sold weren’t enough to “dump the price.”

Crypto influencer Lark Davis has refuted new allegations from Twitter “on-chain sleuth” ZachXBT of shilling “low cap projects” to his audience “just to dump them shortly after.”

Davis was responding to a Twitter thread posted by Zach on Sept. 29, containing allegations that he profited over $1.2 million through selling tokens from crypto projects which he was allegedly paid to promote without disclosing.

In a 17-part thread, Zach pointed to eight examples of what is supposedly Davis’ crypto wallet receiving tokens from new crypto projects, with Davis subsequently tweeting or posting a video on them, and then selling the tokens shortly after.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Zach said he received requests from multiple people who lost money on the tokens shared by Davis asking to “take a closer look” at him.

“Lark managed to dump with size on low cap projects time after time,” Zach said, adding they’ve investigated other crypto influencers, but the alleged amount was “never at this magnitude.”

Zach alleged in the thread that the largest gain to Davis came from receiving 120,000 SHOPX tokens, with Davis tweeting hours later about the project whilst apparently simultaneously selling the tokens, gaining $435,000.

6/ Example 3: $SHOPX

a) Mar 31, 2021 at 3:31 pm UTC Lark receives 120k SHOPX
b) Apr 1, 2021 at 12:32 am UTC Lark Tweets about the project
c) Meanwhile Lark is in the process of dumping all his 120k SHOPX for over $435k USD (finishes on 4/2) pic.twitter.com/mc3HvHrCdI
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 29, 2022

This example along with seven others Zach presented purportedly shows Davis making over $1.2 million in a similar pattern.

“Participating in seed rounds & sharing projects you genuinely like is completely fine as long as it’s done in a transparent manner,” Zach tweeted, adding:

“This is not the case as Lark has a pattern of dumping his discounted launchpad bags right after shills across YT (YouTube), Twitter, & [his] newsletter.”

Cointelegraph requested comment from Davis and was directed to a series of tweets posted late on Sept. 29 in which Davis calls the allegations made by Zach “ridiculous” and provided a response to each example Zach alleged he profited from.

“I got nothing for free,” Davis tweeted to his over one million followers, adding his token sale investments are “always disclosed” on his YouTube channel of 485,000 subscribers and shared with his followers “well before the launch."

For the sales in question, I want to be clear that:
1. I disclosed that I was an investor when I initially discussed them
2. I talked about it before the token sale, to give you a chance to get into the sale.
3. I paid for all of these coins, I got nothing for free.
— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) September 29, 2022

Davis added he was following an investing strategy he teaches, selling the tokens upon launch, which he claims is a common investing practice for token sales. Davis said the amounts he sold were “nowhere near enough to dump the price” of the tokens.

“I teach this concept frequently to you all, none of this should be a surprise if you have been paying attention,” he tweeted. “What you choose to do with my opinions is completely up to you.”

How to identify and avoid a crypto pump-and-dump scheme?

July 16, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Educating oneself about the crypto ecosystem is crucial for investors to pursue during a bear market while awaiting a bull cycle. That being said, having a good understanding of crypto investment entails keeping an eye out for fraudulent projects that threaten to drain assets overnight, a.k.a. pump-and-dump schemes.

Pump-and-dump in crypto is an orchestrated fraud that involves misleading investors into purchasing artificially inflated tokens — typically marketed and hyped by paying celebrities and social influencers. SafeMoon token is one of the most prominent examples of an alleged pump-and-dump scheme involving A-list celebrities, including Nick Carter, Soulja Boy, Lil Yachty and YouTubers Jake Paul and Ben Phillips.

Once the investors have purchased tokens at inflated prices, the people owning the biggest pile of tokens sell out, resulting in an immediate crash in the token’s prices. While fraudsters disguise pump-and-dump schemes under the pretext of creating the next batch of crypto millionaires, knowledgable investors have the upper hand in identifying and avoiding their involvement.

Pump-and-dump schemes are usually accompanied by false promises around three broad categories — solving real-world use cases, guaranteed exorbitant returns and unwithered backing from celebrities and influencers.

The long-term success of a cryptocurrency is heavily dependent on the use cases it serves. As a result, people supporting pump-and-dump projects often suffice their involvement by highlighting the use cases the token aims to serve. In addition, such schemes typically rope in celebrities by upfront payments in cash and the project’s in-house tokens.

Celebrities then market the fraudulent tokens to trusting fans, usually with promises of high investment returns. In the case of SafeMoon, celebrities were accused of a slow rug pull, implying a slow sell-off of holdings as the trading volume from retail investors remained inflated.

Binance, the biggest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume, also warned investors from taking investment advice from celebrities and influencers.

Superstars ≠ crypto experts.

Music artist @JBALVIN says “do your own research”.

On 2.13 when big names try to give you crypto advice — sound #CryptoCelebAlert and grab 1/2222 NFTs of basketball star @JimmyButler!

Learn more ⬇️https://t.co/3rC7r0uJ8M pic.twitter.com/Hml8AN2aEs
— Binance (@binance) February 7, 2022

In the next bull cycle, traditional and crypto investors across the globe will amp up efforts to recoup losses from the ongoing bear market. Knowing this information, fraudsters will try and find opportunities to dupe unwary investors by presenting unrealistic gains. As a result, do your own research (DYOR) stands as one of the best pieces of advice in crypto.

Elon Musk was recently accused of manipulating crypto prices by prominent South African billionaire businesswoman Magda Wierzycka.

Wierzycka believes that Musk’s social media activity and its implications on the price of Bitcoin (BTC) should have made him the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She believes that Musk knowingly pumped up the price of Bitcoin via tweets, including those mentioning Tesla’s $1.5 billion BTC purchase, then “sold a big part of his exposure at the peak.”

Voyager token skyrockets as VGX pump scheme touted

July 14, 2022 Coin Telegraph

3AC

Unknown crypto venture firm MetaFormLabs has initiated a campaign to pump Voyager Token (VGX) as part of a proposed Voyager rescue package.

The native token for the embattled crypto brokerage Voyager Digital has skyrocketed in what seems to be a new effort to inflate its price seemingly inspired by the recent "CEL short squeeze."

On July 13, Voyager’s VGX token surged 178% to hit an intraday high of $0.891 before falling back to around $0.559, according to CoinGecko. It had regained ground back u to $0.717 at the time of publication.

The price rise has coincided with the appearance of a Twitter hashtag called #PumpVGXJuly18, as well as the formation of a Telegram group called the “Voyager Community Recovery Channel,” which had more than 2,100 members at the time of writing.

The token has gained more than 400% since the beginning of the week as speculators appear to be jumping aboard the latest quick buck bandwagon.

This week’s VGX pump is a reversal of a steady downtrend for the crypto token this year, losing almost 80% since the beginning of 2022. It is also down 94.3% since its January 2018 all-time high of $12.47.

On July 6, Voyager Digital announced its restructuring plan, which would include issuing Voyager tokens to customers that had suffered losses following its suspension of trading earlier in the month. The same day, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York, citing liquidity issues arising from Three Arrows Capital’s (3AC) outstanding debts.

The latest twist in the saga came when a federal judge in New York froze the remaining assets of 3AC on July 12. Another part of the restructuring plan includes any recovery of assets from 3AC, which could also partly explain the increase in the perceived value of the VGX tokens.

Unknown crypto venture firm MetaFormLabs, which initiated the move on Twitter to pump VGX on July 9, has pledged to rescue Voyager through this means. On July 13, the firm detailed its token price target, and the amounts pledged for the rescue package.

“We have set a new target range of 5USD-8USD. Currently, we have 50,000,000USD internally and 67,000,000USD pledged by well-known crypto enthusiasts.”

By July 14, it claimed to have $135 million in funds for the rescue package, which will be announced in full on July 18, coinciding with its token pump peak plans.

1 thing is clear.

Don't say we didn't give you any pre warnings of our intentions.#PumpVGXJuly18
July 18 2022 @ 2PM PST
We will stop sharing exact amounts we have pledged.
Current total ready for July 18: 135,000,00USD+

Whoever shorts will probably get swallowed whole.

NFA
— MetaFormLabs | #PumpVGXJuly18 (@MetaFormLabs) July 13, 2022

Following the initial pump, which began on July 13 as prices lifted off from $0.15, MetaFormLabs asserted that this was nothing to do with them.

“Where there's green there's vultures that prey for low entries. #PumpVGXJuly18 will go ahead as planned on July 18 @ 2pm PST. Today's movement wasn't us, we've not even begun yet.”

The pump scheme has been met with a healthy dose of skepticism from the crypto community on Twitter.

Regarding #VGX and the "Pump $VGX" going around...

Know what you are getting into. A lot of supply is locked up on Voyager which can skew pricing. $VGX optimism can potentially help Voyager make customers whole, but know the risk you are taking.
— shingolavine.eth (@shingolavine) July 13, 2022

There was no mention of any bailout plans on Voyager’s official Twitter feed.

Cointelegraph reached out to MetaFormLabs for further details in response to their call to do so but had not heard back by the time this article was published.

Meanwhile, VGX was already dumping and had lost 21% from its initial pump yesterday. A similar pump and dump occurred with the newly launched Terra LUNA tokens, which surged above $10 a couple of days after they went live in late May, only to dump to around $2 a week later.

Crypto influencers allegedly weaponize conspiracies to fleece QAnon followers

June 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

altcoin scams

Mixing conspiracy theories, a distrust for traditional institutions and hopium in crypto, two influencers are alleged to have made millions using pump-and-dump schemes.

Two QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorist influencers allegedly caused their followers millions of dollars in losses by running a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme.

The pair reportedly persuaded their thousands of followers to invest in a portfolio of cryptos, presenting a misleading mix of conspiratorial and genuine content along with claims about institutions backing the tokens to generate hype and raise the price of the portfolio.

The allegations are included in an investigation by Logically, a group of data scientists and developers. It reported the two influencers running the Telegram channels “WhipLash347” and the “Quantum Stellar Initiative” (QSI) coordinated to promote lists of Stellar (XLM) altcoins which have been marked as fraudulent by the Stellar network.

WhipLash347 is a Telegram group with 277,000 followers and QSI has 35,000. They reportedly told their followers the cryptocurrencies would succeed based on their insider knowledge, claiming they had access to secret military intelligence.

The publication said the two mixed conspiratorial content and misinformation to target those distrusting of mainstream financial and media institutions to give authenticity to the cryptocurrencies they promoted. The losses are believed to be in the millions, and Logically claimed one man committed suicide after losing $100,000 in the scheme.

A user known as PatriotQakes, leads the QSI main channel, which has multiple regional affiliates. The ownership of the WhipLash347 account is believed to have changed hands more recently due to changed behavior.

Rocky Morningside, a former admin of the QSI group told Logically he believes that “without doubt that WhipLash347, PatriotQakes, and QSI are scam artists,” who were promoting “pump and dumps.”

Cointelegraph requested a response to the allegations from PatriotQakes, an account seemingly belonging to the person behind Whiplash347 and an admin of a regional QSI group regarding the allegations but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

Neither of the groups have publicly acknowledged or responded to the allegations.

A former investor in one of the schemes using the name “Cutter” now runs a Twitter account aimed at exposing WhipLash347. He told Cointelegraph that he is a member of a Telegram group with 3000 other disgruntled investors and said of the person behind WhipLash347:

“He’s created a huge list of crypto’s with now dead domains, as well as bogus white papers claiming to be affiliated with real companies. We’ve talked to so many of the coins’ real creators that he mimics through copycat assets who have to continually tell people WhipLash is full of shit.”

Cutter says WhipLash creates trust with his followers through sharing similar political views, perpetuating the scheme by claiming “upcoming events” will cause the value of the assets to skyrocket.

According to Cutter, WhipLash responded to the claims by saying all information is under non-disclosure agreements and anybody affiliated with the assets isn’t allowed to talk until the “event”.

“There’s always a timeline, but when the dates pass and nothing happens, he creates new timelines. It’s never ending.”

He also apparently claimed to be in communication with figures like Elon Musk, and said the crypto-friendly billionaire backs the cryptocurrencies WhipLash is promoting.

Cutter said that anyone raising questions is kicked out of the group.

“Anyone who questions his narrative is removed from his Telegram group, and he continues to rinse and repeat among his followers. As people exit, new people join. It needs to stop.”

ASIC reveals how it infiltrated crypto ‘pump and dump’ Telegram groups

December 29, 2021 Coin Telegraph

ASIC

The Australian financial watchdog has revealed the details of how it took down ASX traders suspected of taking part in a coordinated Telegram pump and dump scheme.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revealed the details of how it took down crypto “pump and dump” Telegram groups back in October.

A pump and dump scheme typically involves using social media to coordinate users to buy large amounts of a thinly traded token to artificially inflate its price. They then cash out with massive gains after other investors, who aren’t in on the scheme, FOMO in on a momentum trade.

The new documents reveal that ASIC has been taking counsel from finance academic and crypto researcher, Talis Putnins since early Oct.

A 38-slide presentation by Putnins to ASIC investigators revealed that pump and dump schemes are cyclical, peaking back during 2018 and again in 2021. The presentation stated that they tend to “correlate with overall market sentiment and prices.”

*Pump and dump schemes are cyclical, speaking in 2018 and again in 2021. Source: presentation to ASIC by Professor Talis Putnins*

According to the presentation, there are a number of factors which have changed between 2018 and the time of publication, during Oct 2021. Over a period of six months in 2018, Putnins documented over 355 cases of crypto market manipulation.

He referenced the schemes’ “transparent intention to pump,” and the absence of any “genuine attempt to ignite momentum.” The schemes are “completely out in the open for everyone to see,” the presentation noted.

The presentation detailed the Telegram group “Crypto Binance Trading | Signals & Pumps” Sept 19 pump of fractional algorithmic stablecoin system, Frax Share (FXS), which saw a massive 90% on $65 million volume in less than one minute.

*The outcome of the Sept FXS pump was a 90% price increase in less than one minute. Source: presentation to ASIC by Professor Talis Putnins*

“With our volumes averaging 40 to 80 million $ per pump and peaks reaching up to 450% we are ready to announce our next big pump,” stated a Sept 13 announcement in the group.

“Our main goal for this pump will be to make sure that every single member in our group makes a massive profit. We will also try reaching more than 100 million $ volume in the first few minutes with a very high % gain.”

What's behind pump and dump schemes?

The presentation cited a perceived lack of legal risk, anonymity in forums and encryption as potential reasons for the groups, adding that there is a “perception that crypto is unregulated therefore pumps are legal.”

The new information was revealed in documents which The Australian newspaper was able to access through a freedom of information request. The Australian published the new information on Dec 28.

Last year, Putnins co-authored a paper titled “A New Wolf in Town? Pump-and-Dump Manipulation in Cryptocurrency Markets.”

The report concluded that crypto pump and dumps have created “extreme price distortions of 65 per cent on average, abnormal trading volumes in the millions of dollars, and large wealth transfers between participants”.

On Oct 15, Cointelegraph reported that ASIC had been investigating schemes across crypto and traditional markets operated through social channels such as Twitter, Telegram and Aussie stock chat forum, HotCopper.

At the time, a Telegram account named “ASIC” posted a message on the “ASX Pump Organisation” chat warning its 300 members that the watchdog was “monitoring this platform,” and its members were being investigated.

“Coordinated pumping of shares for profits can be illegal. We can see all trades and have access to trader identities. [...] You run the risk of a criminal record, including fines of more than $1 million and prison time.”

*Screenshot of an announcement in ASX Pump Organisation Telegram chat from ASIC. Source: presentation to ASIC by Professor Talis Putnins*

A spokesperson from ASIC told Cointelegraph at the time: “Even where the activity relates to cryptocurrencies/products that may not be financial products under the Corporations Act, the pump-and-dump practice is concerning as it can lead to investor losses and create unnecessary price volatility.”

London assembly member calls for ban on crypto ads in trains and buses

November 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The lawmaker said that she wasn’t specifically targeting memecoin Floki Inu in the push for this crackdown, but rather as one of three current crypto advertising campaigns on London's public transport.

Sian Berry, former co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales and current member of the London Assembly, is looking to crack down on crypto advertisements on public transport.

According to a Nov. 14 Twitter post, Berry said she would be recommending the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, ban all crypto advertising in the city’s transport network, including many rail and bus services. The assembly member’s call to action comes following token project Floki Inu announcing it would conduct an “full-out assault on the London public transportation system” with posters on Underground trains and buses.

Like gambling ads, which we have finally got the Mayor to remove, there is no way our public services should be used to advertise these unregulated, risky schemes to Londoners. I asked for a ban in July and I am still pushing.

https://t.co/i7EBxfbGrV
— Sian Berry (@sianberry) November 14, 2021

“Where the advert says ‘this is completely unregulated, you may lose all your money’, they ought to have had second thoughts,” said Berry in an interview with the Guardian. “I don’t think cryptocurrency ads should be on the network. They’re unethical.”

The U.K. capital is no stranger to crypto advertising, being home to a number of exchanges and projects. Tokens including Richard Heart’s HEX have previously targeted the city for ads in newspapers, on public transportation, and even during sporting events. Last year, Binance blanketed the city in ads in advance of the launch of its U.K. arm.

Though many of these campaigns have gone forward without incident, Berry’s concerns seem to be focused on possible “pump and dump” schemes, in which advertising for a project could potentially cause a large number of Londoners to buy tokens and only a few investors profit by selling their holdings when the price rises. The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority blocked a campaign by crypto exchange Luno in May by claiming the firm’s “it’s time to buy” statement on ads could give the impression that investing in Bitcoin (BTC) was “straightforward and accessible.”

“I want to clean up ads on the tube in various ways, including removing ads for cars and airlines,” said Berry. “Risky financial products, like gambling, are part of that policy. I don’t want to ban cryptocurrencies outright and have no power to do so.”

Berry added that she wasn’t specifically targeting Floki in the push for this crackdown, but rather as one of three crypto advertising campaigns in London. However, she noted that members of the Floki Army — i.e. supporters of the token on social media networks — had inundated her with messages “making it appear more like a cult than a scam.”

In Floki’s case, the ads seem to be contributing to a rise in the token price. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the price of the token surged more than 500% between Oct. 26 and Nov. 4, when it hit an all-time high of $0.0003406.

Cointelegraph reached out to Sian Berry, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Game over! ‘Squid Game’-inspired crypto scam collapses as price crashes from $2.8K to zero

November 2, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Game over! ‘Squid Game’-inspired crypto scam collapses as price crashes from .8K to zero

Coin Telegraph

Dubbed SQUID, the cryptocurrency had rallied by as much as 75,000% to cross over $2,850 but dropped to near zero on Nov. 1.

A cryptocurrency inspired by Netflix’s internationally hit TV show Squid Game scammed investors in what appears to be a $3.38-million “rug pull” scheme.

Dubbed SQUID, the cryptocurrency plunged to almost a fraction of a cent minutes after crossing over $2,850 at 09:35 UTC on Nov. 1. The deadly drop oed following a 75,000% bull run, showcasing a greater demand for SQUID among traders after its debut on Oct. 26.

At the core of the retail craze lay the popularity of Squid Game. The scammers promoted SQUID as a play-to-earn cryptocurrency inspired by the South Korean TV fictional show in which people put their lives at risk to play a series of children’s games for the opportunity to win 45.6 billion won (~$38.7 million).

The marketing ploy helped push SQUID prices from $0.01 on Oct. 26 to over $38 on Sunday. The cryptocurrency then jumped to $90 on Nov. 1, ushering in a massive pumping round that pushed its price further to over $2,850, only to crash all the way down to $0.002 minutes later.

*SQUID price pump and dump. Source: CoinMarketCap*

Red flags

In the days leading up to the massive crash, traders had complained that they could not sell their SQUID holdings in the only available market, a decentralized exchange called PancakeSwap. In their defense, SQUID founders said they had deployed an innovative “anti-dumping technology” that limits people from selling their tokens against lower demand.

A lot of my normie friends bought this $SQUID game token and couldn't sell i ("anti-dump feature")

Now look what happened pic.twitter.com/wq5egYBKFa
— Friend of Peach (@WaymanCap) November 1, 2021

“The more people join, the larger reward pool will be (sic),” the Squid Game white paper read, adding:

“Developers will take 10% of the entry fee with the remaining 90% given to the winner.”

Major news network CNBC also published the Squid Game cryptocurrency founders’ claims without omissions, insofar that it called SQUID the “very own brand” of the Netflix show.

The Squid Game cryptocurrency founders also said they were affiliated with the Netflix show as its official token partner. They also claimed that they had entered a strategic partnership with CoinGecko, a crypto data provider. However, in an interview with Cointelegraph, CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong refuted the claims, saying:

“[SQUID] did not meet our listing criteria, hence it will not be listed on CoinGecko. It’s most likely a scam.”

CoinMarketCap, a rival of CoinGecko, listed SQUID on its platform but warned visitors about the cryptocurrency’s dubious nature in a notice that read:

“There is growing evidence that this project has rugged. 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.”

Meanwhile, analysts also noted that the Squid Game token founders had no profiles on LinkedIn, with Twitterati Crypto Tyrion ruling SQUID as a “100% rug pull.”

Closed Telegram group: ❌❌❌❌
Closed discord: ❌❌❌❌
Blocked Tweets comments: ❌❌❌❌
No founder Linkedin: ❌❌❌❌
CNBC article to pump: ❌❌❌❌

CONFIRMED SCAM@IncomeSharks @jaynemesis
— Crypto Tyrion (@Cryptotyrion) October 29, 2021

It now appears like a “game over” scenario for the SQUID bag holders.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

ASIC targets pump and dump Telegram groups

October 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

ASIC

“Coordinated pumping of shares for profits can be illegal. We can see all trades and have access to trader identities,” said ASIC in a message to the ASX Pump Organization on Telegram.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is going after pump and dump groups on Telegram.

On Monday an account under the name “ASIC” posted a message in the “ASX Pump Organization” on Telegram to warn around 300 members of the group that “we’re monitoring this platform and we may be investigating you.”:

“Coordinated pumping of shares for profits can be illegal. We can see all trades and have access to trader identities. [...] You run the risk of a criminal record, including fines of more than $1 million and prison time.”

Many of the group’s members assumed the account to be fake, however ASIC confirmed the validity of the now-deleted message to The Australian newspaper.

While some members of the community have laughed off the message from ASIC, others have vented their frustrations at being targeted instead of firms and corporate traders.

“What ASIC needs to do is go after the corporates who inside trade and short companies all the time, and not spend valuable time here hassling 300 small investors who are doing nothing wrong by sharing stock recommendations. This has to be the biggest joke in history,” a member wrote.

On Sept. 23 ASIC published a warning about a “concerning trend” of social media groups engaging in “blatant” pump and dump campaigns. It stated that “in some cases, posts on social media forums may mislead subscribers by suggesting the activity is legal,” before warning of prison sentences of up to 15 years and fines of more than $1 million.

“ASIC has been working closely with market operators to identify and disrupt pump and dump campaigns, and we will continue to target actions that threaten the integrity of markets and to take enforcement action where appropriate,” said ASIC Commissioner Cathie Armour as part of the release.

Crypto-based pump and dumps weren’t specifically targeted by ASIC, however a spokesperson for the regulator told Cointelegraph:

“The campaign is targeting listed stocks but the messaging is relevant for all financial products, including any crypto assets that may be, or involves, financial products.”

“Even where the activity relates to cryptocurrencies/products that may not be financial products under the Corporations Act, the pump and dump practice is concerning as it can lead to investor losses and create unnecessary price volatility,” the representative added.

Pump and dump groups have grown in popularity this year after the r/wallstreetbets and Robinhood saga in January. The Reddit group —which is admittedly more about the pump than the dump — collectively worked together to pump stocks that hedge funds were shorting against such as GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment (AMC).

pump and dump

What's behind pump and dump schemes?

Red flags

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