UniSwap False Celebrity Endorsement
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A hacker created a fake coin with the same name as a real coin. Then they send some to an influencer in a swap, making it look like the influencer is participating.
This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.
About Uniswap
"A rather easy way to make it appear that known influencers have "aped in" to a scam project."
"One scammer utilized an advanced feature on Uniswap’s signature “swap” screen, manipulating the transaction logs. This setting allowed the stealthy trader to change the “recipient” of the coin, making it appear as though popular crypto influencer and Lead Casting Couch Interviewer at eGirl Capital, DegenSpartan, had purchased a large amount of the scam coin. The swindler used a celebrity-endorsement tactic that tricks investors into purchasing an illegitimate ICO. Though roundabout in its strategy, this is just an exit scam with extra steps. "
"On our Power Brokers channel, an alert appears that @DegenSpartan swapped for $OPT, what **appears** to be a token for Open Sea. But it's a fake token that has nothing to do with the awesome NFT marketplace."
"Scammer turned on advanced mode in Uniswap which allows to choose a different recipient of the swap. In this case Degen."
"This generates a swap of ETH from scammers wallet for OPT which is sent to DegenSpartan's wallet."
"Per usual, upon further inspection, there are issues in the contract itself."
This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.
The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.
Include:
- Known history of when and how the service was started.
- What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
- What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
- Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
- Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
- How were people recruited to participate?
- Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.
Don't Include:
- Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
- Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.
There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.
The Reality
This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:
- When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
- Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
- How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
- Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.
What Happened
The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.
| Date | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| February 5th, 2021 12:00:00 AM | First Event | This is an expanded description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here. |
Total Amount Lost
The total amount lost is unknown.
How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?
Immediate Reactions
How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?
Ultimate Outcome
What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?
Total Amount Recovered
It is unknown how much was recovered.
What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?
Ongoing Developments
What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?
Prevention Policies
Of course, these fake tokens would not make it past any reasonable trained human operators.
References
Crypto Scams are Out of Control, Again... Here's How to Stop Them Forever - The Defiant - DeFi News (Aug 26)
@uniwhalesio Twitter (Aug 26)
eGirl Capital (Aug 26)
찌 G 跻 じ ( (Aug 26)