As Bitcoin hits a historic high, the cryptocurrency economy has begun to break through and attract more attention and participation from outsiders. However, at the same time, the industry has also attracted some unscrupulous individuals who have designed various scams with the lure of high returns and free education, which they have deployed on major social media platforms and online communities, causing losses to unsuspecting investors.

This article will expose a typical cryptocurrency scam in order to prevent users from falling into the trap.

Overlapping Scams

Recently, a victim approached Bitrace, claiming that their wallet had been emptied. After verifying the victim's address and related circumstances, it was discovered that the victim had fallen victim to a triple scam involving the theft of private keys, the purchase of a fraudulent token called "貔貅币" (Píxiū coin), and involvement in a Ponzi scheme. The overlapping scams were typical.

Meeting on Douyin, Theft of Private Keys

A few days ago, the victim came across a discussion about cryptocurrency investment on a short video platform and revealed their positive outlook on Bitcoin in the comments. Subsequently, they received a private message from a "like-minded" cryptocurrency enthusiast, who claimed to be willing to teach the victim how to invest in cryptocurrencies.

The two engaged in conversation and exchanged WeChat contacts to further discuss money-making opportunities. With the meme coin surging, the scammer claimed to have made a substantial profit by buying "土狗" (Tǔgǒu) on the chain. Under the scammer's guidance, the victim downloaded the TP wallet, recharged ETH, and imported the Tǔgǒu contract, all in one go. Unbeknownst to the victim, while they repeatedly inquired about the operations through screenshots, they had already sent the mnemonic phrase, which grants full control over the assets, to the scammer.

This meant that the scammer could transfer all the assets from the victim's wallet at any time. However, instead of doing so, the scammer actually led the victim to buy Tǔgǒu, as the wallet's assets were not yet enough to "close the net."

*Activities that claim to teach cryptocurrency investment methods as a lure for bringing in new participants are a common type of fraudulent investment scam. Fraudsters generally take advantage of outsiders' lack of understanding of cryptocurrencies to obtain private information such as mnemonic phrases, private keys, and QR codes equivalent to private keys during the process of guiding victims to install wallets.

"You're Amazing, Píxiū Coin"

The first investment target was a meme coin called Jungle, which had its own official website and Twitter account, giving the appearance of legitimacy. The scammer claimed that the project had lucrative "initial investment returns" and that buying in would lead to rapid price increases.

The victim eagerly exchanged a small amount of ETH for the "initial investment coin," and the token price quickly doubled. Subsequently, under the scammer's guidance, the victim sold all their assets and exclaimed, "You're amazing, bro," unaware that this was a trick commonly used by RUG scammers—getting a taste of easy money.

In reality, the victim had unknowingly purchased a "Píxiū coin," and was now anxiously attempting to sell the token on various DEX platforms. The victim's "profit" was only due to the scammer whitelisting their address.

TP Expert, Ponzi Scheme

The next day, the scammer struck again, proposing that the victim increase their capital investment and continue to participate in new coin offerings. The victim agreed, but after purchasing 2.39 ETH into the wallet, they had to postpone the transaction due to unforeseen circumstances. Unable to wait, the scammer directly transferred all the assets by importing the mnemonic phrase.

The victim realized that the wallet balance was empty and, confused, informed the "wolf in sheep's clothing" about the situation. The scammer claimed that the funds had been transferred to a TP wallet address and introduced the victim to a so-called "TP engineer," who, under the pretext of triggering risk control rules, demanded that the victim continue to transfer an equivalent amount of ETH to "lift the risk control." It was at this point that the victim realized they had been scammed.

*TokenPocket, imToken, and other cryptocurrency wallets are decentralized, and the wallet companies do not have access to users' wallet private keys, nor can they impose so-called "risk control restrictions" on users' assets. Any methods claiming to "roll back data" or "contact official customer service" to recover assets are scams.

Analysis of Fraudsters' Addresses on the Chain

Based on the addresses provided by the victim, Bitrace further traced and discovered that this fraud syndicate was a repeat offender of Píxiū coin scams, having created and operated over fifty fraudulent tokens in the past. The common fraudulent method was to immediately add 30,000 USDT in liquidity on SushiSwap after creating the token, and then opportunistically remove the pool to capture the assets.

Here are a few representative Píxiū coins issued by this fraud syndicate: $JGE scammed 497 victims for a total of 59,018 USDT; $POX scammed 498 victims for a total of 45,452 USDT; $AOQ scammed 432 victims for a total of 22,048 USDT; $WAL scammed 358 victims for a total of 4,185 USDT. In summary, this fraud syndicate profited at least 131,201 USDT.

Bitrace reminds everyone that cryptocurrency fraud methods are constantly evolving and iterating rapidly, especially in the current boom of the cryptocurrency secondary market. These scams have a tendency to quickly attract outsiders. Investors need to remain vigilant against online acquaintances and must consider investing only after fully understanding the basics of cryptocurrencies.

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