Data leak
[loss] $127M+
"'Blockchain for dog nose wrinkles' Ponzi makes off with $127m"
Primary Source ↗Financial Loss
$127.0M
(127,000,000 USD)
Affected
22K
individuals/accounts
Incident Details
A company that promised an app that could identify dogs by their nose-prints — built on the blockchain, of course — has been alleged by South Korean police to be “a typical Ponzi scheme” that lured investors with promises of up to 150% returns in 100 days. The company raised around ₩166.4 billion (~$127 million) from approximately 22,000 people. The victims, according to Korean police, are mostly “in their 60s or older with no expertise in cryptocurrencies”.As for the noseprint reader, well, it was found to be a fake product that (shockingly) didn’t use a blockchain at all. The company had also promised to build “theme parks for pets”, but had not leased any of the sites it had identified.
Total loss estimated at $127,000,000.
Technical Details
- Initial Attack Vector
- Ponzi / pyramid scheme
- Vendor / Product
- Dog noseprint Ponzi scheme
Timeline
- 2023-06-22 Breach occurred
- 2023-06-22 Publicly disclosed