Cryptocurrency fraudster earned over $ 2 million from Solana by impersonating a well-known trader

An impostor posing as the famous crypto influencer Ansem stole more than $ 2.6 million in Solana (SOL) tokens. The scam was launched on the X platform (formerly Twitter), using the hype for the memo coins.

The fraudster managed to lure investors into a fake pre-sale of a non-existent token called BULL. The details of the scheme were reported by crypto detective ZachXBT.

Posing as Ansem, the fraudster advertised a fake pre-sale of BULL tokens in replies to real Ansem tweets. Users followed the link and connected to the website, after which the hacker emptied their wallets. This elaborate scheme resulted in significant losses, with the largest victim losing almost $ 1.2 million.

«The fraudster earned $ 2.6 million? Why did users send tokens to the account for nothing when a few lines of code are required to implement a smart contract for sale?» wrote X user Robert Sasu.

According to Scam Sniffer, 57,000 people fell victim to cryptocurrency fraud in February alone, suffering collective losses of about $ 47 million. These were mostly phishing attacks carried out on social media platforms.

The Ethereum network suffered the most, with users losing 78% of the total amount of stolen funds. It is noteworthy that the bulk of the losses were in ERC20 tokens based on Ethereum — $ 40 million.