Squid Game Scam: How Netflix’s $900 Million TV Show Gave Rise to a Multi-Million Dollar Fraud

We all remember when Squid Game was everywhere—the show that took over Netflix, social media, and even our group chats. With over 111 million viewers and a $900 million payday for Netflix, it had officially taken the world by storm.

But where there’s popularity, there’s usually a scam lurking around. And in this case, the show’s success inspired a huge crypto scam. Enter: Squid Coin.

This cryptocurrency, named after the show, promised easy money to investors. But, surprise! It wasn’t the goldmine it seemed to be.

The result? A multi-million dollar scam that had all the red flags, but somehow still fooled a bunch of people. Investors thought they were cashing in on the next big thing, only to lose everything. But how did it all go down? Let’s dive in.

A cryptocurrency inspired by Squid Game

Who doesn’t love a good trend, right? Especially when it’s Squid Game-related. Enter Squid Coin—the cryptocurrency that claimed to combine the thrill of the show’s deadly competition with the promise of big profits. Sounds too good to be true? That’s because it was.

In late 2021, just weeks after Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched show, a new crypto coin popped up. As reported by BBC, marketed as a “play-to-earn” token, it promised players an opportunity to earn money while engaging in Squid Game-style challenges.

Oh, and the coin’s value shot up like a rocket. It peaked at $2,856 per coin. At first glance, this was the opportunity for anyone looking to cash in on the Squid Game craze. But let’s be real for a second.

Just because something looks like a golden ticket doesn’t mean it’s not a scam. Cryptos are notorious for their unpredictable nature, and Squid Coin wasn’t exactly about ‘to the moon’ vibes.

So how did they pull it off? They hyped the heck out of the coin, promised great things, and made investors think they were part of something huge. People jumped in, thinking they were going to be the next crypto millionaire. However, they weren’t.

How the Squid Coin scam conned investors

Once people bought into Squid Coin, they thought they were making a smart investment. Well, the twist is: once you invested in SQUID, there was no way out. No sell button. No easy exit strategy. You were stuck with your shiny new coin, and it wasn’t worth the digital space it occupied.

The scheme was genius, if not outright evil. The scammers created fake hype around SQUID, making it seem like a legitimate investment. The hype only grew, the price soared, and before anyone could blink, people were rushing to throw their money at it.

Everyone was talking about it—news outlets like CNBC and BBC were reporting on it, and the excitement was infectious. But here’s where the scam hit its peak. While the value of SQUID was skyrocketing, investors weren’t able to cash out.

They were trapped. The people behind the coin were draining liquidity from the exchange while investors were left in the dust. And just like that, the $2.1 million was swiped off. And the worst part? It’s almost impossible to get that money back.

Squid Coin’s sudden crash left investors empty-handed

On November 1st, 2021, the Squid Coin bubble finally burst. Up until that point, everything seemed fine—too fine, in fact. The coin had grown by an insane 83,000 percent, peaking at a jaw-dropping $2,856 per coin.

But just when investors thought they were about to cash out with big profits, disaster struck. Around 5:40 AM ET, Squid Coin’s value plunged from its high to zero. What happened next was even crazier (according to Gizmodo).

The website for Squid Coin vanished. The social media accounts were deleted. And just like that, the entire thing disappeared, leaving investors with nothing. The coin, the website, the hype—gone in an instant.

Well, the scam artists behind Squid made their exit, cashing out their holdings and leaving the investors with absolutely nothing. The scam was pulled off so perfectly that by the time people realized it, it was too late.