Crypto investors lost over $500M to memecoin rug pulls and scams in 2024, driven by social engineering exploits.

Crypto investors lost more than $500 million to memecoin-related rug pulls and scams in 2024, according to a forensic report by blockchain intelligence firm Merkle Science, highlighted by CoinDesk. The report finds that most of these schemes were enabled by social engineering, where attackers hijacked or convincingly impersonated the social media accounts of high‑profile figures to promote fraudulent tokens to their followers. A large share of the attacks occurred on X (formerly Twitter), with additional activity on YouTube. Merkle Science’s data shows that roughly 44% of the documented social‑engineering incidents resulted in rug pulls—where token creators or controllers abruptly withdraw liquidity or dump holdings—while another 44% were phishing attacks designed to steal user credentials or assets. A striking example involved the compromise of French football star Kylian Mbappé’s X account, which was used to promote a fake memecoin that rapidly reached about $460 million in market capitalization before the operators executed a rug pull. In another case, scammers leveraged the reach of music artist Wiz Khalifa’s 35.7 million‑strong following to push a bogus WIZ token that climbed to a roughly $3.4 million market cap before collapsing to zero. The findings underscore how memecoin speculation and celebrity‑driven token promotion have created a fertile environment for organized fraud operations that focus on exploiting trust rather than technical vulnerabilities. By compromising or mimicking celebrity and influencer accounts, attackers can trigger rapid inflows into low‑liquidity tokens, then drain value before victims can react. For regulators, platforms, and market participants, the report highlights the need to treat social‑media‑driven token promotions—especially newly created memecoins—as a high‑risk vector for coordinated scams and to strengthen verification, security practices, and user education around these campaigns.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

More coverage

• Over $500M Lost in Memecoin Rug Pulls and Scams in 2024: A W ... (binance.com)
• Merkle Science reports $500M lost to memecoin scams in 2024 (investing.com)
• News - Rug Pull | CryptoRank.io (cryptorank.io)

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