Exit Scam

Project team vanishes with investor money - site shut down, no contact.

Exit scam is a rug-pull variant: whole team vanishes - site offline, Discord/Telegram deleted, funds withdrawn. Classics 2017-18: Bitconnect (2.5B USD), OneCoin (4B USD). 2022: FTX partially (8B USD gap, but team jailed). Protection: before depositing verify public team (faces, LinkedIn), smart contract audit, non-locked treasury funds.

In plain words

The team collects money (via ICO, fund, exchange) and one day simply vanishes - site offline, support gone, funds sent to unknown addresses.

Example

OneCoin (Ruja Ignatova): raised 4B USD, vanished 2017. 8 years later FBI still hunting her.

Also known as: exit scam

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