StarkNet Airdrop Scandal: Chinese Authorities Crack Down on Fraudulent Activities

Authorities in Guangdong province, China, have apprehended an individual for manipulating identity verification processes to unlawfully claim StarkNet (STRK) airdrop rewards.

The suspect, identified as Lan Mou, reportedly utilized false identities to enroll in StarkNet's Early Community Member Program (ECMP) more than forty times, acquiring over 40,000 STRK tokens illicitly, as per local reports.

Arrest and Seizure in $91,000 Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme

The acquired tokens were subsequently transferred to an OKX wallet and converted to Tether, totaling over $91,000. The arrest took place on April 25, with law enforcement seizing a computer and two mobile phones believed to be involved in the fraudulent scheme.

Challenges in StarkNet's 700 Million STRK Token Airdrop

StarkNet, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, initiated airdropping 700 million STRK tokens on February 20 to Ethereum stakers, developers, and other Web3 contributors. However, the distribution faced challenges due to a surge in airdrop squatters—individuals creating multiple accounts to claim excessive token amounts.

Developer Banteg from Yearn.Finance highlighted issues shortly after the airdrop, noting suspicious Github profiles associated with many of the 1.3 million eligible addresses.

Persistent Vulnerabilities: Cryptocurrency Airdrop Misuse

The misuse of airdrops is not new in the cryptocurrency realm. Similar tactics were observed in March during the Arbitrum (ARB) airdrop, where hunters moved tokens worth $3.3 million from 1,496 wallets to just two wallets. These incidents underscore persistent vulnerabilities in digital token airdrops concerning identity verification and fraud prevention.