Blockchain Researcher Reveals Increased Fake Memecoin Launch

According to an investigation by a number of blockchain experts, crypto scammers have stepped up the launch of fake memecoins over the past two months. One specific address has reportedly launched "114 memecoin scams" in the past 45 days.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT conducted a search on April 26 on Twitter, tracked the wallet address movement 0x739c58807B99Cb274f6FD96B104202b8EefB47, and noted that "every time the funds stolen from the scam were sent to the exact same deposit address."

"I think there are more. This is only what is sent to the deposit address lol," added ZachXBT in response to a commentator.

Independent blockchain investigators were unable to calculate the financial value of the fraudulent activity allegedly committed by the address, as the alleged fraudster used multiple wallets to split the funds.

Memecoin is a crypto token inspired, and built around, a joke or popular internet meme, while generally offering no serious future utilities or use cases.

Twitter user Lucrafund also checked, shared a screenshot in the thread showing that the "crime mastermind" had sent part of the stolen funds to Coinbase's address, which basically provided key personal identification.

When asked why ZachXBT thought that this activity had not been discovered by Coinbase, the anonymous investigator suggested that it might be difficult to detect, as funds are generally sent in "a small amount at all times."

Reported by Cointelegraph, on April 27, Twitter user CoinGurruu also posted a similar thread highlighting the wallet address of allegedly 0xCc16D5E53C1890B2802d5441d2336Cac6cd646F, which is said to have "launched 2-5 memecoin scams every day for nearly 2 consecutive years."

"It is said that these developers have tremendous hard work. Make sure you mark it in Etherscan so you don't give them your money. It's absolute confusion," CoinGurruu wrote.

In a separate case this week, ZachXBT also appears to have found another con man through his wallet address that he hid on his back.

Twitter user NazareAmarga, or Gabriel Marques, is suspected of having launched a malicious-looking memecoin aimed at defrauding legitimate NFT project holders.

According to ZachXBT, the wallet address omitted by Marques, which can be seen through social media posts, is deeply involved in fraud which is said to have generated around US$110,000 (Rp1.6 billion) worth Ether.