Pump Fun Scam: Dubai Investor Rakes $30 Million in Crypto Celebrity Scheme!
A Dubai-based investor, Sahil Arora, REPORTEDLY has been linked to a massive NFT crypto scam reportedly conning investors out of $30 million.
Operating on a Solana-based platform called Pump Fun, Arora issued celebrity tokens and then offloaded those tokens to realize huge profits; a classic pump-and-dump scheme, say authorities.
How did the Scam work?
Sahil Arora took advantage of Pump Fun, a platform for creating meme coins on the Solana blockchain, to launch tokens associated with well-known celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner, Floyd Mayweather, Amber Rose, Sunny Leone, and Iggy Azalea.
The scheme involved convincing these celebrities to promote the tokens by sharing the contract addresses with their large social media followings, effectively driving the price.
Arora held between 25-40% of the token supply for each celebrity token, spread across more than 40 different wallet addresses.
Once the token prices surged following the celebrity promotions, Arora quickly sold off his holdings, causing the token values to plummet to almost nothing—leaving thousands of investors with significant losses.
Profit Breakdown
Reports from Bubblemaps, a blockchain analytics platform, show that Sahil Arora managed to offload $26.4 million through this scheme just in 2024. Here's a breakdown of his monthly profits:
January: $3 million
February: $1.8 million
March: $3.2 million
April: $2.5 million
May: $4.8 million
June: $2.5 million
July: $2 million
August: $6.6 million
These profits were funneled through a main wallet and eventually transferred to centralized exchanges, making it difficult for victims to recover their funds.
The Legal Gray Area
Despite the massive financial losses incurred by thousands of investors, legal action against Sahil Arora remains uncertain.
Using celebrities to promote the tokens adds another layer of complexity, as they bear some responsibility for the scam.
The situation falls into a legal gray area, making it challenging for authorities to pursue legal action.
Read more: 10 Biggest Cryptocurrency Scams in 2024!
About Pump Fun and Its Vulnerabilities!
Pump Fun, the Solana-based platform used by Arora, has experienced significant growth, surpassing the Ethereum blockchain in terms of daily revenue in recent months.
However, this platform has also shown vulnerability to exploitation. For instance, the platform recently removed its $2 fee for token creation, shifting the cost to the first buyer.
This change has led to a surge in token creation, raising concerns about its potential misuse by other fraudsters.
In addition, Pump Fun has already been targeted by hackers, with a significant breach in May resulting in the theft of $2 million.
Final Notes!
The Pump Fun platform case and Sahil Arora's activities will surely serve as a lesson for many crypto investors. New technologies and platforms open wide doors to many wrongdoings.
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