Lucky Star Currency (LSC), an astrology-themed NFT project, has allegedly performed an exit scam worth over $1 million, as reported by Certik, a blockchain security firm, on October 9. The project’s deployer account, known as ‘withdrawToken’, executed the function on both the NFTMerge and AdwardCenter contracts, resulting in the removal of over $1 million worth of LSC. These tokens were subsequently exchanged for Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin and transferred to another account.
Founded by astrologists, Lucky Star Currency focuses on NFTs and operates under contracts such as the Award Center and NFT Marketplace. The project primarily targets the Chinese crypto investment market. The team actively promotes the project through their X (formerly Twitter) account, @AstrAstrol75591, and maintains a Telegram channel. However, as of October 9, the project’s website and user interface are offline.
Lucky Star Currency was heavily advertised on the Chinese news app Toutiao and the Q&A platform Zhihu before the alleged scam took place. The rug-pull occurred when BNB Smart Chain address 0x9Ef72Ee68a7c841986A0C60e0FDbAE4e27446Deb removed over 1.6 million LSC from the AwardCenter contract and an additional 1.4 million LSC from the project’s NFTMerge contract at around 02:52 a.m. UTC. The attacker then exchanged the drained funds for over $1 million BUSD through Pancake swap and transferred them to account 0x23f8c805306Bf27AB8bf3cEbEce4B778acfFd896. Notably, this account has been receiving BUSD from various sources for the past 82 days, indicating potential involvement in multiple scams.
CertiK confirms that the drained contracts have been listed on Telegram as the project’s official contracts. Furthermore, blockchain data reveals that the attacking account is the deployer for the AwardCenter contract.
The company responsible for promoting Lucky Star Currency claimed to have an office in Shenzen City, China. However, rug-pulls from Chinese projects have become a recurring issue in the Web3 space. Operating a centralized cryptocurrency exchange is illegal in China, which means users who deposit funds into a Chinese protocol with centralized elements risk having their funds confiscated by the police.
The Chinese-based Multichain protocol experienced a similar incident in July, resulting in a loss of over $100 million. The team alleges that their CEO has been arrested, but victims are still seeking answers regarding the fate of their funds and the possibility of reimbursement.
As scams continue to plague the crypto industry, investors must remain vigilant and conduct thorough research before engaging with any project or token. Trustworthy security firms like CertiK play a crucial role in identifying and reporting such fraudulent activities, helping to protect users’ investments.
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