PopcornSwap Exit Scam

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PopcornSwap

PopcornSwap launched a project with a backdoor which allowed them to take user funds. (Part of a migration contract that is standard in PancakeSwap at this time.)

They decided they wanted to take everyone's funds. Since they were anonymous, nobody managed to hunt them down to get the funds back.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About PopcornSwap

"At the end of January, an exit scam was carried out by the PopcornSwap project, also based on the BSC blockchain, appropriating $ 2 million from liquidity pools." "PopcornSwap performed a liquidity siphon scam. This was nearly an instant rug-pull upon launch, stealing custody of over 2,000,000 USD in users’ tokens." "This was nearly an instant rug-pull upon launch, stealing custody of over 2,000,000 USD in users’ tokens merely three hours after their first Twitter post."

"Almost all the forks from PancakeSwap inherited a back door called the “Migrator” that allowed the dev to take all the staked assets in the farms. Yes, I’m not joking, PancakeSwap can really take all your staked assets if they really wanted to. I’m not suggesting they will, but its in their power to do so." "This was a legacy feature that came from SushiSwap on Ethereum because they needed to forcibly “migrate” Uniswap LPs into their own SushiSwap LP."

"Weibo user "Super Bitcoin" stated that another DeFi mine popcornswap on the Binance Smart Chain has gone. It is reported that some users said in the community that the project used cake's LP, the contract was open source but there was no audit, and the LP was run in less than two hours. Currently, there are more than 40,000 BNB in the wallet and no action is taken."

"The project has now deleted all media and website pages, going ghost."

"According to Wu, Binance executives wondered if they should take any steps in this situation. As Wu writes in his article, Binance said the security team is "watching" the Popcornswap project but may not be able to succeed. Previously, Binance made a statement that it is unlikely that it will be possible to recover funds, and users should carefully choose projects for investment. Thus, at the moment, the responsibility rests with the users themselves."

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.

Key Event Timeline - PopcornSwap Exit Scam
Date	Event	Description
January 28th, 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?