Meme Coin Scam Drains $10M in Minutes, Shocking Investors

Meme coins continue to attract speculators, but their explosive popularity has also fueled a wave of scams.

A recent case involving an alleged fraud in India has left investors reeling after the creator of GANG token reportedly drained millions in mere minutes.

An anonymous crypto analyst, Fawi, exposed the suspected scheme, linking it to a pseudonymous investor, MrPunkDotEth. The token was promoted as a cultural movement, but skepticism arose when its creator retained an overwhelming majority of the supply. Initially claiming to control 90%, further investigation suggested he held nearly 95%.

As trading kicked off, he rapidly offloaded holdings, securing $1.3 million in the first two minutes alone. Using multiple wallets, he allegedly extracted a total of $10 million before converting the funds through Binance.

While estimates on the final haul vary, experts believe the scam netted at least $4 million, leaving investors with worthless tokens. GANG’s price plummeted 99.5%, triggering widespread outrage as the community demanded legal action and called on exchanges to freeze the stolen funds.

Meanwhile, a separate controversy saw the abrupt collapse of the CHARLES meme coin. Its creator had sent $100 million worth of tokens to Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, hoping for an endorsement. Instead, Hoskinson burned the entire supply, instantly erasing any speculative value tied to his name.