Chinese Authorities Arrest Suspect in StarkNet Crypto Airdrop Identity Theft Case
Summary:
Chinese officials have apprehended a suspect, Lan Mou, accused of conducting large-scale identity theft linked to the StarkNet (STRK) airdrop. The suspect allegedly submitted over 40 falsified ECMP airdrop forms, unlawfully claiming over 40,000 STRK tokens intended for others. The tokens were later transferred to an OKX wallet and converted into Tether (USDT), valued at over $91,000. This instance highlights the risk of scams and phishing attacks in the crypto sector. The StarkNet Foundation had initiated a 700 million STRK token airdrop on February 20, largely attracting airdrop squatters or professional hunters, as warned by a Yearn.finance developer.
A suspect, accused of identity theft in relation to the StarkNet (STRK) airdrop, has been apprehended by Chinese officials. The individual allegedly fabricated over 40 Early Community Member Program (ECMP) airdrop forms under various identities, thereby illegally obtaining over 40,000 STRK tokens intended for other people. Post-airdrop, the perpetrator moved the 40,000+ STRK tokens into an OKX wallet and converted them into Tether (USDT) with a total valuation over $91,000, as per a local media report published on April 30th. Identified as Lan Mou, the suspect was taken into custody by Guangdong Province law enforcement on April 25, with a computer and two mobile phones seized in the process. Large-scale identity theft for airdrop claims, while fairly uncommon, underscores the prevalence of scams and phishing attacks within the cryptocurrency sector. A crypto airdrop acts as a distribution technique for new cryptocurrency, typically targeting early users who have engaged with a specific protocol. The StarkNet Foundation, a support organization for the Ethereum layer-2 Starknet network, initiated a 700 million STRK token airdrop on February 20, aiming to reward Ethereum solo and liquid stakers, Starknet developers and users, in addition to projects and developers within the broader Web3 ecosystem. The airdrop garnered immense interest, with the first 45 million STRK tokens claimed in under 90 minutes. On February 20, it was warned by Banteg, a developer for Yearn.finance operating under a pseudonym, that a majority of the StarkNet’s eligible list was largely made up of airdrop squatters, a term referring to professional airdrop hunters looking for financial benefit. According to Banteg, nearly 701,544 out of the 1.3 million qualified wallet addresses were correlated with repeated or renamed GitHub accounts managed by airdrop squatters. These hunters typically utilize numerous addresses to farm the same airdrop, increasing their overall rewards. In March 2023, it came to light that airdrop hunters had aggregated $3.3 million worth of tokens from the previous Arbitrum (ARB) airdrop across 1,496 wallets, all of which were controlled by just two wallets. Source: Cointelegraph.
Published At
5/1/2024 12:29:50 PM
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