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A hot new cryptocurrency that has received a lot of attention and investment could actually just be a scam designed to steal people’s money, researchers claim.
According to experts at Check Point Research (CPR), the developers behind Dingo Token have designed the smart contract to allow them to manipulate charges and drain the user’s wallet.
Every cryptocurrency has fees – micropayments designed to incentivize people to join the network and get rewarded for validating the transactions. But while the fees are usually cheap (with exceptions, of course), Crypto Dingo Token owners have included a feature in the smart contract that allows them to increase the fee to 99%.
An “obvious scam”
CPR says the owners can take 95% of the transaction in “taxFee”, and another 4% in “LiquidityFee”. So far, the feature has been used 47 times.
Crypto Dingo Token is currently ranked #5462, with a market cap of $4,159,936.
“The Dingo Token is an obvious scam. We found a backdoor code added to the token smart contract that allows the owner to change the cost,” said Oded Vanunu, Head of Products Vulnerabilities Research at Check Point Software. “They turned it into a staggering 99% fee. This is a common tactic that locks users’ funds and eventually the scammers take all the money out.”
According to Vanunu, cryptocurrencies are a great industry for scammers as they enable all kinds of malicious campaigns while preserving their identity. (opens in new tab) a secret. After all, most cryptocurrencies are pseudonymous, allowing people to obtain large sums of money while remaining anonymous.
“Scammers find cryptocurrency more and more attractive. They can remain anonymous. It’s fast. It’s lucrative. If you have included crypto in your investment portfolio or are interested in investing in crypto in the future, you should use credible exchanges and buy from an established token with numerous transactions behind it.