This week, a group of crypto enthusiasts uncovered a $1.6 million exit scam involving a Web3 game project and actors.
According to a report from Decrypt, the scam began in early 2020 when the team behind an Ethereum-based game called “CryptoDuel” launched a $3 million token sale. The project was initially marketed as “a new generation of simulated trading platforms.”
Investors were promised a platform with an array of gambling games, such as poker and blackjack, which would be powered by a native token.
However, after the token sale, all activity ceased and none of the project’s developers could be contacted. Eventually, the team behind CryptoDuel resurfaced, claiming that they had encountered difficulties while developing the project, but the token sale had still gone ahead in July.
When investors began to suspect that the team had been using their money to exit scam, they started to scrutinize the project’s Ethereum address and find evidence of suspicious activity.
It turns out that a large portion of the $3 million raised from the token sale had been used to pay for actors and influencers. According to the report, influencers were given “up to four ETH (or $1,664 at today’s prices)” by the project.
Additionally, the report revealed a potentially larger sum of ETH that had been sent from a Crowdsale Wallet address to a wallet without a KYC—all of which were most likely used to line the pockets of those involved in the scam.
At the time of writing, it is not clear who was behind this scam. However, the evidence suggests that a group of malicious actors were able to exploit investors and launch a lucrative exit scam.
