Cryptocurrency Scams Lead To Over $500 Million Losses In 2024

According to PANews, a report by crypto intelligence platform Merkle Science reveals that losses due to meme coin crashes and scams exceeded $500 million in 2024. The most prevalent scams involved social engineering, a tactic that uses deception and manipulation to obtain personal data, often targeting celebrities or well-known tech figures. One notable incident involved scammers hacking into the X account of French footballer Kylian Mbappe. After gaining access, they posted a link to a malicious meme coin, which briefly reached a market cap of $460 million before crashing to zero. Another case targeted music artist Wiz Khalifa's 35.7 million followers on the X platform, promoting a fake WIZ token that peaked at a $3.4 million market cap before plummeting to zero. The report from Merkle Science highlights that 75% of these attacks occurred on the X platform, while 19% took place on YouTube. Social engineering scams accounted for 44% of the meme coin crashes reported, with phishing attacks also identified as a cause in 44% of all scam cases.