SNEAK PEEK
- Lucky Star Currency (LSC), an astrology-themed NFT project, has reportedly conducted an exit scam, taking over $1 million.
- The scam involved the project’s deployer account activating the “withdrawToken” function.
- LSC primarily targeted the Chinese crypto market and had significant promotional activities on popular platforms like Toutiao and Zhihu.
In a recent development, Lucky Star Currency (LSC), an astrology-themed nonfungible token (NFT) initiative, has reportedly executed an exit scam, siphoning over $1 million. This revelation comes from a detailed report by blockchain security firm CertiK.
LSC, which claims its foundation by astrologists, primarily targeted the Chinese crypto investment market. The project’s unique selling point revolved around its NFTs, with its contracts encompassing an Award Center and an NFT Marketplace. However, the project’s credibility hit when its deployer account activated the “withdrawToken” function. This action drained over $1 million in LSC from the NFTMerge and AdwardCenter contracts. The extracted tokens were subsequently exchanged for the Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin and transferred to a separate account.
We can confirm an exit scam on @AstrAstrol75591 LSC token
Bsc: 0x2b3559c3DBdB294cbb71f2B30a693F4C6be6132d
EOA 0x9Ef withdrew LSC tokens from the AwardCenter contract. Tokens were then sold for $1.1mhttps://t.co/sy7vFfqhf5
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) October 9, 2023
Moreover, the project’s promotional activities were notably visible on the Chinese news app Toutiao and the Q&A platform Zhihu. However, as of October 9, attempts to access the project’s website and user interface have been futile, with both platforms going offline.
Delving deeper into the transactions, at approximately 02:52 a.m. UTC, a BNB Smart Chain address removed a staggering 1.6 million LSC from the AwardCenter contract. A subsequent transaction drained an additional 1.4 million LSC from the NFTMerge contract. These funds were swiftly converted into over $1 million in BUSD via PancakeSwap. The converted amount was then sent to an account that has, interestingly, been on the receiving end of BUSD from various sources for the past 82 days. This pattern suggests the possibility of multiple scams funneling money into this account.
CertiK’s analysis further confirms that the contracts in question were indeed listed on Telegram as the project’s official contracts. Additionally, blockchain data indicates that the account responsible for the withdrawal is the deployer for the AwardCenter contract.
Exit scams, especially from Chinese projects, have unfortunately become a recurring issue in the Web3 domain. The legal landscape in China, which deems running a centralized cryptocurrency exchange illegal, further complicates matters. Consequently, users who invest in Chinese protocols with centralized components might risk their funds being seized by authorities.
In a similar incident in July, the China-based Multichain protocol witnessed a massive over $100 million drain into an attacker’s account. While the team has reported the arrest of their CEO, the victims remain in the dark, seeking clarity on the whereabouts of their investments.
