Up1 Infinite Approval Phishing
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Up1 Network claimed to be a synthetic elastic index fund, and offer new innovation to revolutionize how investors invested. The website was filled with extensive details and background about synthetic tokens and even featured some tokenomic algorithms. There was a supposed team with biographies, although no human faces were used. Users of the website were prompted to get their free airdrop.
Instead of a free airdrop, the website would request them to grant an infinite approval of the highest-value token in their wallet. When approving that transaction, the funds would be quickly stolen and laundered. At least $50k was taken from one victim, although there appear to have been several. There is no indication that any of the funds were recovered.
This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
About Up1 Network
"Up1 - Defi TVL Synthetic Elastic Index Fund - A brand new asset class that will revolutionize how individuals invest in digital assets."
"Synthetic is the term given to financial instruments that are engineered to simulate other instruments while altering key characteristics. Often synthetics will offer investors tailored cash flow patterns, maturities, risk profiles and so on. Synthetic products are structured to suit the needs of the investor. A synthetic is an investment that is meant to imitate another investment. Synthetic products are custom designed investments that are created for large investors."
"A price-elastic token is one where the project’s total token supply is not fixed, but instead automatically adjusts on a routine basis. These token supply adjustments are called rebases. When UP1 price is greater than the Total Value Locked in DEFI * 0.1^11), more $T will be minted. When UP1 price is lesser than the Total Value Locked in DEFI * 0.1^11), the $T in everyone's wallets will be reduced. Positive Rebase creates new supply, decreasing scarcity and driving price down its target."
"An Elastic synthetic index fund like instrument of Defi TVL (Acting as per the underlying assets.)" "The world’s first tokenized derivative of its kind (Traders & Institutions can speculate an untouched assets)."
"I can't even "fat-finger" click confirm on some jewel such as up1(.)org, that will dynamically ask for inf-approve on *the most valuable ERC20 you have*."
"I fell for this one."
"An early Ethereum and DeFi investor who wishes to remain anonymous told Cointelegraph that they fell victim to a rug pull on Dec. 19, 2021. The anonymous source shared that the project is called “up1.network,” noting that many early Ethereum investors were discussing Up1 in a Discord chat group."
“People I trusted were mentioning the project so I checked it out. I thought it was strange to see Up1 giving away airdrops, but thought it could have been affiliated with a DeFi token I had. I then connected my MetaMask wallet and clicked on ‘get airdrop’ but kept getting an error message. I did this three times, which gave the project access to my account.”
"Unfortunately, once Up1 gained access to their account, three DeFi tokens worth $50,000 were instantly taken. “I revoked access after the fact on Etherscan so they couldn’t steal any more tokens,” they mentioned. The Ethereum investor then checked the DeFi platform Zerion where they saw the notifications that the DeFi tokens had left their wallet."
"Scams are evolving.. stay safe."
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 |
|---|---|---|
| December 20th, 2021 6:40:45 AM MST | Main Event | Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here. |
Technical Details
This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?
Total Amount Lost
The total amount at risk has been estimated at $50,000 USD. The total amount lost has been estimated at $50,000+ USD.
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
There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.
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?
General Prevention Policies
Users can protect themselves by always triple checking every transaction. A good strategy to massively reduce potential losses is to keep most funds stored offline in one or more separate wallet(s) and only have a small balance based on what you are actively using in your present wallet.
The industry as a whole could protect itself by having a simplified framework for all platforms, which would allow investors to look up which platforms are registered easily. Presently, far too many legitimate platforms are operating outside the law and offshore due to the regulatory complexity and uncertainty, which brings investors to be accustomed to sending their funds around the world and not performing any diligence on which platform.
Once losses are obtained, the industry has no standard program of recovery. We have recommended the establishment of an insurance fund which could have funds available to assist victims and increase the rate of reporting so perpetrators could more easily be brought to justice.
Individual Prevention Policies
No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.
Platform Prevention Policies
Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.
For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.
Regulatory Prevention Policies
No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.
For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.
References
- ↑ @amanusk_ Twitter (Jun 26, 2022)
- ↑ $P – Defi TVL – Elastic Synthetic Index Fund (Jul 22, 2022)
- ↑ @heminvaidya Twitter (Jul 22, 2022)
- ↑ Beware of sophisticated scams and rug pulls, as thugs target crypto users — Blockchair News (Jul 22, 2022)
- ↑ https://etherscan.io/address/0xc28a580acc42294787f44cffbaa788eaa4958056 (Jul 22, 2022)
- ↑ https://etherscan.io/tx/0xd56ba7c3c0ae82dbc36e3d8e8d600f8d5cb9f3575347e85ef846bb29d97c9ed6 (Jul 22, 2022)