TMZ Crypto #36: Scams, Rug Pulls, and Crypto Drama

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💣 💥 TMZ Crypto #36 💰 ☠️ Your weekly newsletter of the biggest scams, rug pulls, and the general drama of the crypto world! ⤵️ Delivered to your feed in a single thread.

I've been slacking HARD! Time to catch up ASAP! The Stoner Cats NFT project, backed by @MilaKunisv, got hit by the SEC. They must refund all money raised ($8M)+ pay a $1M fine. How many more projects will share the same fate? h/t: @NFTherder twitter.com/Loopifyyy/status/1701966597445874124

We continue with a very recent hack (most likely by the infamous Lazarus Group). Mistakes were made in wallets CoinEx controls. twitter.com/coinexcom/status/1701651414991397176 twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1701905899034390574

One of the biggest recent stories was the takeover of @VitalikButerin's X account. REMOVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER FROM TWITTER! @BokkyPooBah lost one of the first minted Crypto Punks. He handled the situation like a real legend and admitted it was his fault. twitter.com/BlockBrainAI/status/1700649884792340838

People watching @punk9059's daily show know that @MiladyMaker333 was defying the downward price trend of the NFT market. But yesterday the price dropped a lot because the founder is suing three devolpers who allegedly stole $1M from the treasury. twitter.com/CharlotteFang77/status/1701245168039452947

Ex-monster threadooor turned based-villain Adam Cochran posted some mysterious updates about Binance. Reminds me of @cobie's infamous red-notice post. Let's see what happens next. twitter.com/adamscochran/status/1701770140361130227?s=20

Another unexpected side-arch was @farokh's heated post towards one of the biggest grifters in this space: @Pauly0x. A lot of people celebrated Farokh's frank words, but not everybody. What's your take? h/t: @KingBlackBored twitter.com/HashBastardsNFT/status/1701625852243439964

Banana Gun Bot shoots "investors" in the foot. (headline from @BlockBrainAI) The team created a token, only to realize four hours after the release that there was a bug--so they had to rug the LP. Hmmkay. ChatGPT found the bug. 👀 twitter.com/BananaGunBot/status/1701322684313817459 twitter.com/0xQuit/status/1701329304075018501

A lot of people seem to be bored during this bear market, so shots are being fired at all directions, from all directions. @gainzy222 🔫 @CryptoHayes | @adamscochran 🔫 @gainzy222 twitter.com/inversebrah/status/1701755319796613473

@friendtech is having a renaissance and doing more volume than the entire NFT market. If you're looking for some guidance, I found the following thread to be quite helpful! Stats by: @punk9059 twitter.com/alpha_pls/status/1700945329464418385

Because I was slacking so much, some stories seem like they happened last year. But @stake got hacked, and a private key seemed compromised. twitter.com/0xArhat/status/1698729017342570717

The European Union doesn't seem to be a huge fan of privacy coins. They might be banned from European exchanges pretty soon: twitter.com/Mister_Ch0c/status/1699290391168618722

Another banger from Zach. Here, he's breaking down the pump&dump scheme of various KOLs. Reminder: DON'T BUY other people's bags. Unless they have a fancy names like Louis Vuitton or Hermès. twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1700920283798839443?s=20

Some of you might remember @avi_eisen. He was an on-chain sleuth who was FAFO'ing a lot. Then, he got caught and sent to jail. Things are not looking good: h/t: @FreddieRaynolds twitter.com/realChrisBrunet/status/1695640932228419701

Our favorite MEV bot is essentially covering ETH's costs single-handedly. twitter.com/hildobby_/status/1700142166159356135

It's valuable when people share their encounters with hackers and scammers. It helps others recognize and avoid similar pitfalls. No harm was done in this instance, but the tactics are now exposed! twitter.com/nft_dreww/status/1695836938656473130

Here's another victim story. This time, there's no happy end, but the bad ending could have been much worse! Read & learn! twitter.com/Yodaskk/status/1694643897807385084

Bitboy got fired from @Bitboy_Crypto. I know, old news, but it didn't happen that long ago. And we have brand new info: Ben is now suing BitBoyCrypto! twitter.com/BenArmstrongsX/status/1701755690639819046 twitter.com/cryptomanran/status/1695782889391071593

As if there weren't enough attack vectors. More and more are popping up daily, such as fake Google ads. V2 of this scam are ad networks that show the correct URL and forward you to the fake after you click on it! Use bookmarks and triple-check domains! twitter.com/0xngmi/status/1694360865154167289

Legendary on-chain sleuth Tay put together a great, informative thread about how thefts look on-chain. It's a great resource if you want to dive deeper into this topic. twitter.com/tayvano_/status/1697336529746874521

I always try to finish my updates with educational content. Here's a piece from Boring Security that explains how the Pink Drainer operates, along with other scam techniques! twitter.com/BoringSecDAO/status/1700724667391307863