Rug pulls dominate cryptocurrency scams, accounting for 54% of threats

Hidden permissions in smart contracts can allow creators to remove liquidity or block token sales without warning.

Rug sweeps accounted for more than 54% of all newly discovered cryptocurrency-related scams, according to the latest data from on-chain security analysis platform Web3 Antivirus.

The findings suggest that although fraud tactics are still evolving, many attackers continue to rely on token projects that initially appear legitimate before using contract controls to prey on investors or drain liquidity.

Rug pulls are the biggest threat

In the June 9 crash on X, Web3 Antivirus was also used male Honeypots, a different but related scam, came in second at around 22%, followed by fake codes at around 12% and fraudulent airdrops at just under 12%.

The mechanics behind carpet pulls are what make these schemes so effective. As stated by the security company, it was created in such a way that in its initial stages it resembled normal market activity with increasing prices, trade volume and high activity in online forums.

Risks only become visible when contract holders exercise hidden permissions that prevent users from selling, removing liquidity, or otherwise locking funds.

“A token can appear to be alive as the chart moves up and the community becomes more vocal, but a single action by the owner can change everything in seconds,” Web3 Antivirus wrote. “The same contract controls that were invisible during pumping can suddenly become the reason users are unable to exit, liquidity disappears and the chart collapses.”

Honeypots work on the same basic principle. Bad actors create a fake token and push it to the public through marketing disguised as a great investment opportunity. They even artificially raise the value of the token by conducting transactions themselves to create the illusion of high demand to attract unwitting investors.

However, once people buy, often at inflated prices, the underlying contract blocks any sale, as the scammers withdraw the profits and exit. Web3 Antivirus’s latest Scam Pulse data shows that more than 425,000 carpet pulls have been detected along with 172,000 honeypots and more than 94,000 fraudulent airdrops.

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Additionally, of the more than 100 million contracts the platform has analyzed, nearly 4 million contracts have been flagged as scams, with at least 3.1 million of them appearing in the past 30 days alone.

There has also been an uptick in impersonation of token contracts, as seen in the security company’s weekly leaderboard an offer Ethereum leads with 291 fake tokens detected. Tether followed near 270, and USDC at 225, with activity across almost every asset tracked higher than the previous week.

Delivery methods are becoming more difficult to discover

Beyond the on-chain mechanisms, Web3 Antivirus also noted that AI is also involved changing How scams reach users in the first place. According to them, technology now makes phishing emails, fake support chats, and fraudulent social media posts look polished enough to pass a quick visual inspection.

According to their data, emails are the most popular delivery channel at 53%, followed by SMS at 10%, social media at 9%, and online advertising at 8%. There are examples across the industry, including an incident in May, where a fake Uniswap website was created Exhausted At least $400,000 from users before the alarm was raised.

In the same month, Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz issued a warning For XRP investors about Fake airdrop and giveaway campaign targeting XRPL users.

Not so long ago, Web3 Antivirus It has been identified A phishing account posing as Canton Network, complete with project branding, was using a supposedly official announcement post to redirect unsuspecting users to a fraudulent URL.