Crypto Chronicles: Scam Schemes, Developer Tactics, and Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Welcome to my Crypto Chronicles!
With over 3 years of experience as a crypto marketer, I've witnessed a lot behind the scenes.
In this thread, I'll be sharing stories , ranging from scam schemes to the people I've encountered, marketing strategies, token insights, and a bit about my personal journey in the crypto world.
Stay tuned for real, unfiltered experiences from the front lines of crypto !


STORY 1 :

It was 2021-2022 and scammers came up with a clever trick involving fake groups called "Whale Investors" or "Market Manipulator Whales." Here’s how the scheme worked:

They created these groups and pretended to have big funds to invest, сreate polls asking, "Which token should we invest $100K in?" For such pools choose newly trending or fast-growing tokens .

Then they acted as normal users and joined token community chats, posting things like, "Let’s vote so these whales can invest in us!"

Many project owners didn't see the trap and shared these polls in their communities. But there was a catch: you could only vote if you joined the scammers' channel. This way, they stole audiences and grew their channel quickly.

After gathering all this attention, they would pick some of the voted tokens and claim, "We chose these tokens, and their value grew up to $10 million." At this point, depending on how bold or greedy they were, the scammers would take different steps:

1. They’d announce, "We’re tired of pumping other people's projects. We’re launching our own token, and you get an exclusive chance to invest."
2. They’d say, "Our future investments will only be shared in a private group, and entry costs $100-$1,000."

LMK if you like such format . Chears!

interesting

Love to hear more @AlexKoro

Thanks for sharing. A new bull market is approaching gotta be aware of these scams

Copycrypto said:

interesting

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DE_GAME said:

Love to hear more @AlexKoro

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ozanthedeveloper said:

Thanks for sharing. A new bull market is approaching gotta be aware of these scams

Click to expand...

Thanks for your interest .

Here is another story.

STORY 2:
This second story is also about a scam scheme, and it takes place on Twitter. It’s possible that SMM from Blackhatworld, was used for this, so if you’ve seen such orders on your panels, now you know why.

The scheme gained popularity after Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and the introduction of paid verification. As we know, verified accounts get more reach.

How the Scam Works:​

Scammers start by taking an old Twitter account and boosting it to 8-20k followers using giveaways. They retweet posts from real, well-known crypto influencers and create their own posts (often copied from lesser-known influencers).
The profile is typically set up to look like a crypto influencer, with handles like mike_sol_degen.eth.

They then create a post mostly of two types:

1. A fake collection of popular NFTs that can supposedly be minted for free, resembling a giveaway.
2. A giveaway of a popular token that hasn’t launched yet but is expected to and has a real airdrop campaign (at the time, this included different L2 blockchains offering retroactive drops, like Blast, Aptos, Linea).

These scam posts are filled with popular hashtags like #Crypto, #Airdrop, #BTC, #ETH and ect. Once the post is published, scammers use SMM panels to boost it with 20k views, likes, reposts, and comments saying things like "Everything is great, we got the airdrop!"

This activity pushes it from verified accounts to the top of hashtag feeds, attracting real victims and generating more organic engagement.

The Final Trick:​

Each of these posts included a link to a website with a domain like token_name-giveaway.xyz.
Users who clicked on the link were prompted to connect and verify their wallets.
This step, however, led to their wallets being drained as the scam site would steal their funds once connected.



Be careful and think twice when you see different FREE AIRDROPS NO MONEY NEEDED GET 9999$ FOR 1-CLICK!

Always DYOR , your Alex Koro.

wow man that's crazy

That's some wild shit!

Great thread idea! This is exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes insight that’s both fascinating and educational. The Whale Investors scheme is a perfect example of how scammers exploit hype and trust in the crypto space. It's wild how they combine psychological tactics with clever marketing to grow their channels and scam people.

Definitely keep sharing more stories like this, it's super valuable for both newcomers and veterans. Looking forward to more Crypto Chronicles!

Kinoleo said:

wow man that's crazy

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Proxy Cake said:

That's some wild shit!

Click to expand...

natsuko said:

Great thread idea! This is exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes insight that’s both fascinating and educational. The Whale Investors scheme is a perfect example of how scammers exploit hype and trust in the crypto space. It's wild how they combine psychological tactics with clever marketing to grow their channels and scam people.

Definitely keep sharing more stories like this, it's super valuable for both newcomers and veterans. Looking forward to more Crypto Chronicles!

Click to expand...

I appreciate your interest, so here comes new story.

STORY 3


In today’s story, we’ll move away from scam schemes and talk about a method of launching a token where ordinary users have very little chance to profit.
This method was popular in 2021-2022, before the era of pump-and-dump groups, but it remains relevant today.

The Private Launch Method:​

This method is called a private launch. The concept involves owners of small call channels banding together and pooling funds for liquidity. In return, each participant received a portion of the token’s supply, typically 1-2%, depending on the number of participants.

How It Worked:​

Once everything was set up, the preparation for launching began. The channel owners would start warming up their audience, posting in their channels about an upcoming launch from a “reliable dev” with strong growth potential. Just before the launch, the token supply was distributed among the participants. There were specific rules in place for selling to ensure the token's stability and longevity, such as:

• No selling that would drop the price by more than 1%.
• Selling only during green candles, not during red ones.

The organizer monitored participants’ wallets, and if someone broke the rules, they were excluded from future launches.

The Outcome:​

The essence of this method was that the team of call channel owners would offload their tokens to the audience they brought in.

However, even for the call owners, these launches did not always work out well.
Problems could happen if people with fake follower counts joined or if not everyone followed the rules.

Very eye opening stories, I subd to the thread keep em coming

STORY 4:

This story takes us back to around 2021 when platforms like PooCoin, Dextools, and DexScreener were just starting to gain popularity. At that time, they didn't yet have integrations with automatic smart contract audit services. Today’s story is about a type of scam called a honeypot. However, I’ll share more interesting details than just the definition (which you can easily Google). In short, a honeypot is a token where only the developers can sell, while regular users can only buy. But in this case, I’ll talk more about the marketing strategies behind these tokens.

The Strategy Behind Honeypot Tokens:​

Scammers who wanted to launch these tokens and scam large sums of money invested a significant amount of funds. But where did this money go? As we know, then and now, most of the activity was on Telegram. Scammers would look for Telegram channels, preferably personal ones, and buy them at prices above the market value. Then they manage and grow these channels for at least three months or longer before starting the warm-up phase.

This phase included things like posting photos from meetings, screenshots ot website prototypes, showing partnerships, and teasing that they prepare something huge. This process continued for about a month. Eventually, they would announce that they are going to launch their own token and that it would be a massive launch, setting a specific date to further hype up the audience.

The Launch:​

When the launch happened, the token was set up as a honeypot, meaning its price and chart would only move upward. Any sales can be only by the team itself to make chart look more healthy. During this time, the fake influencer running the channel would post updates claiming the token had already reached 5x, 10x, or even 20x growth, and congratulate followers on such a successful launch to create FOMO (fear of missing out).

Since it was a channel, subscribers couldn't post comments saying they couldn’t sell. Seeing the token’s “growth,” more and more people would buy in. Such scams could gather $100,000 to $200,000, which covered the cost of buying and warming up the channel over 3 to 6 months.

Always DYOR , your Alex Koro.

STORY 5:

Manipulations with Tokens Using "Autoliquidity" Features in Smart Contracts​

This story is about a clever scam from devs that with some tricks with smart contract to steal funds from unsuspecting users. Tokens with hidden "autoliquidity" features became popular in 2021–2022 during the DeFi and meme token hype, when people were willing to buy almost anything that seemed promising.

The Scam Setup:​

The scam begins with creating a token with hidden functionalities, such as automatic fees (autoliquidity) or dynamic tax adjustments. On the surface, the token appears normal and transparent: users can buy and sell it, and it shows decent liquidity on decentralized exchanges. But the trap lies deep in the smart contract.

How These Smart Contracts Work:​

1. Automatic Fees: Every time a user buys or sells the token, a percentage of the transaction is automatically sent to the developer's wallet. These fees can range from 5% to 20% or even higher.
2. Dynamic Tax Adjustments: During testing and early promotions, the tax is kept low at around 1–2%, making it seem harmless. However, once the token gains traction, the developers secretly increase the tax to 90–100%, wiping out users' funds.
3. Sell Restrictions: The contract may include hidden functionality that allows the developer to block wallets or prevent specific users from selling their tokens.

Marketing and Promotion:​

To attract investors, scammers use aggressive marketing strategies:

• Pay influencers or Telegram channel owners to promote the token as a "next big thing."
• Simulate demand and liquidity using bot accounts to create fake activity.
• Commission fake audits of the smart contract that appear legitimate but fail to disclose the hidden functions.

The Token Launch:​

1. At launch, the token is marketed as "revolutionary," often boasting features like automatic reward distribution or a unique burn mechanism.
2. Early buyers see low transaction fees and steady price growth, which encourages more purchases.
3. Once enough users are onboarded, the developers activate the hidden features: the tax rate spikes to 90%, and every time a user attempts to sell, most of their funds are drained into the scammers' wallets.

The Finale:​

The developers collect massive amounts of money through these automatic fees and abandon the project, leaving investors with worthless tokens. Often, they move on to create a new token and repeat the scheme.

Takeaway:​

The "autoliquidity" scam is dangerous because it's difficult to detect without thoroughly analyzing the smart contract. This highlights the importance of conducting due diligence, relying on trusted platforms, and being cautious when investing in tokens with unusual mechanisms.

Always DYOR , your Alex Koro.

P/S: If you have any questions or want to suggest something about next story, don't be shy,and lmk.

STORY 6:

Fake Crypto Exchanges and Decentralized Platforms Scam​

This story is about one of the most deceptive scams in the crypto space: fake cryptocurrency exchanges and decentralized platforms. These scams exploit the trust and excitement of users looking for new trading opportunities, only to lock them into platforms that exist solely to steal their funds.

How It Works:​

The scam begins with the creation of a convincing fake exchange or decentralized trading platform. These platforms often mimic the design and functionality of legitimate services like Binance, Uniswap, or PancakeSwap.

The Key Elements of the Scam:​

1. Professional Website:
   
   • The scammers create a sleek, user-friendly interface that looks identical to a real exchange.
   • They include advanced features such as trading charts, market pair listings, and staking options to build credibility.
2. Aggressive Marketing:
   
   • They run targeted ads on social media platforms like Telegram, Twitter, and even Google, promoting the platform as the "next big thing."
   • Influencers (fake or real) are paid to post reviews or tutorials showcasing how easy it is to trade on the platform.
3. High Returns and Bonuses:
   
   • The platform offers "too good to be true" rewards, such as bonuses for early deposits, staking incentives, or high liquidity farming yields.
4. Fake Tokens and Listings:
   
   • The platform often lists tokens rumored to launch soon on major exchanges, claiming users can trade them early. These are usually tokens tied to retroactive airdrops, such as Aptos or Arbitrum, to build hype.
   • Another tactic involves offering fake arbitrage opportunities, like "Buy Bitcoin cheaper on our platform and sell it higher on Binance." Scammers post in crypto chats about "new trading pairs" or "profitable arbitrage routes." Once users deposit funds to take advantage, withdrawals are blocked, or wallets are drained.

The Trap:​

1. Deposit-Only Platforms:
   
   • Users can deposit funds but are unable to withdraw them. Any attempts to withdraw are met with excuses like "technical issues" or "verification needed."
2. Phishing Techniques:
   
   • The platform may request sensitive information, such as private keys or wallet recovery phrases, under the guise of "verification." Once obtained, the scammers drain the victims' wallets.
3. Exit Scams:
   
   • After collecting significant funds, the platform suddenly disappears. Websites go offline, social media accounts are deleted, and customer support is unreachable.
     
     
     

Always DYOR , your Alex Koro.

P/S: If you have any questions or want to suggest something about next story, don't be shy,and lmk.