A group that calls itself the RugSeekers has been working diligently to ferret out cryptocurrency scams, Bloomberg reported.
The group is led by Robert Browning, 52. Its goal is to go into depth on the details of various scams, according to the report. The group operates by going into chats regarding coins that could be suspect and inquiring about the details.
The group investigates who the moderators overseeing the coin chats are, and what the utility of the coin could be as coins that have distinct purposes might be less suspect, the report stated.
A moderator behind a recent scam, the We Save Moon coin, eventually told Browning in private messages that the idea was “to get rewards” — although no other specifics were offered, according to the report.
Crypto scams have ballooned in the $100 billion decentralized finance (DeFi) market, the report stated. Scams can proliferate easily in DeFi because anyone can mint digital tokens, even some which flop within hours.
In the We Save Moon incident, Browning, after asking several questions and saying he planned to alert others to a potential scam, was blocked from messaging the moderators anymore, according to the report. Days later, the investors in We Save Moon began to pull money out of the coin.
The first half of 2021 saw around $681 million in crypto thefts, hacks and frauds, with DeFi hacks making up 54% of the fraud, the report stated.
Last month, J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he thinks the U.S. will regulate crypto.
Read more: US Will Regulate Crypto, JPMorgan’s Dimon Says
“I personally think that Bitcoin is worthless,” Dimon said at the time. “Our clients are adults, they disagree, that’s what makes markets, so if they want to have access to buy yourself bitcoin, we can’t custody it, but we can give them legitimate, as-clean-as-possible access.”
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More