SQUID rug pull: What happened and how to avoid similar crypto scams

When the SQUID, a meme coin tied to the Netflix series Squid Game crashed overnight in November 2021, it didn’t just lose value—it vanished. The devs drained over $3.3 million from the liquidity pool, wiped the token’s trading pair, and disappeared. This wasn’t a market dip. This was a rug pull, a type of crypto scam where developers abandon a project after stealing investor funds. And SQUID became the textbook example of how greed, hype, and fake utility can destroy trust in seconds.

What made SQUID so dangerous wasn’t just the theft—it was how carefully it was built to look real. It had a website, a whitepaper, a game concept, and even a fake partnership with Netflix. People saw others making quick profits, joined in, and didn’t ask the basic questions: Who’s behind this? Is the contract locked? Is the liquidity locked? The crypto scam, a deliberate deception to steal funds from unsuspecting investors worked because it mimicked legitimate projects. The same patterns show up today in new meme coins promising airdrops, gamified rewards, or celebrity endorsements. These aren’t accidents. They’re engineered traps.

Real crypto projects don’t vanish after a price spike. They publish audits, lock liquidity, reveal team members, and build slowly. Scams do the opposite: they rush, they hide, and they vanish when the money rolls in. The blockchain fraud, illegal activity exploiting decentralized systems to steal assets behind SQUID didn’t need hacking—it just needed a clever name and a trending show. You don’t need to be a coder to spot these. Check the contract. See if liquidity is locked. Look for real team info. If it’s all anonymous, it’s a red flag. If the token has no real use beyond speculation, it’s a target.

The SQUID rug pull didn’t just cost people money—it made the whole space look sketchy. But it also taught us something important: if something feels too good to be true, it is. The next one might be called KILLER, DOLLAR, or ZOMBIE. It might promise a game, a staking reward, or a celebrity collab. But the pattern stays the same: hype, no transparency, and a quick exit. You don’t need to chase every new coin. You just need to know what to avoid.

Below, you’ll find real case studies of similar scams, breakdowns of how fraudsters operate, and tools to protect yourself. No fluff. No guesses. Just what actually happened—and how to make sure it doesn’t happen to you again.