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Netflix’sSquid Gamewas an instant hit when it debuted back in September 2021. The South Korean series quickly amassed a huge fan following and became an instant hit for its unique concept. Captivating millions of viewers from all over the world, fans enjoyed watching its survival theme and unsettling exploration of human nature under extreme circumstances.
Set against a backdrop of a deadly competition, where contestants lost their lives trying to win a massive cash prize by playing childhood games, the series’ shocking twists and turns resonated with audiences worldwide. Thus, not only did it go on to become one of the most-watched series on the streaming giant but also ended up becoming a cultural phenomenon, inspiring merchandise, and even real-life non-lethal game adaptations.
However, the immense popularity ofSquid Gamealso ended up making it an attractive target for scammers looking to exploit its fame. Riding in the wave of its cultural success, a group of cybercriminals orchestrated an elaborate scheme using cryptocurrency, subsequently swindling millions of dollars worth of money from their victims before anyone could realize what was going on. And here is all you need to know about theSquid Gamecrypto scam.
What is theSquid Gamecryptocurrency scam of 2021?
Back when the Netflix seriesSquid Gamewas released, no one had anticipated that a bloody survival show-themed drama would end up becoming such a cultural phenomenon. From those green tracksuits to the red light, green light game, pretty much people from all over the world were obsessed with the show and its gruesome premise, which offered a stark insight into the world we live in and to what extent humans will go to make their ends meet.
And the ‘to make their ends meet’ part materialized in the form of a cryptocurrency scam where a bunch of cybercriminals used the show to scam people of millions of dollars. It began with the launch of a crypto coin/token called theSquid Gamebut not affiliated with the Netflix series in any way. The makers of the coin then offered the buyers a ‘play-to-earn,’ where the players could exchange this Squid to play online games and earn more tokens which can then be exchanged for other cryptocurrency or fiat money (viaBBC).
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The supposed games were to begin in November 2021 and as per the issue document, it was advertised as a Ponzi scheme, where the more people joined in the larger was to be the pool of money. Initially, the said coin was worth less than a dollar, but suddenly it increased by over a thousand percent (310,000% according toForbes) and people went on to buy the coin before it could cross the one-dollar mark. As is the norm in the world of cryptocurrency, the Squid went on a dramatic increase from $1 to $5 and then went on to $600, at an all-time peak of $2,861 (viaWIRED). However, this is when tragedy struck.
The Squid rose to an all-time high of $2,861, what happened next?
It is not unusual for a cryptocurrency to suddenly explode, however, as people have found out before too, this is a case of the classic ‘rug pull’ scam.
As the Squid, aka theSquid Gamecoin, rose to unimaginable levels, people who had purchased the coin began expressing doubts about the coin. Apprehensive of the whole thing, people tried to sell it but were unsuccessful. Others attempted to try the buying marbles through a pay-to-play game organized by the coin’s creators, in order to sell the coin (via WIRED).
However, all attempts to sell the coin, either through the game or without it remained unsuccessful.
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This led to widespread coverage from major media and on July 22, 2025, the thing that the buyers were fearing for happened. TheSquid Gametoken/ coin lost all of its value at about 6 a.m. EDT when the price of a then $2,861 coin suddenly plummeted to less than half a penny. Thus, this wiped out over $6 billion in market value within 15 minutes, as CoinMarketCap reported (viaForbes).
This crash became evident after the users started noticing that the developers of the coin had terminated the project just before the online games were to be launched. They furthermore hid all the transaction details through a protocol called Tornado Cash (via Forbes), which is a cryptocurrency mixer that helps the user to obscure the origin and the destination of their purchases, enabling them to use a security key to withdraw crypto into a different wallet.
Soon enough, the token’s website, which contained multiple grammatical errors and mistakes (an obvious red flag), went offline, and all of its social media accounts, which were until now promoting the tokens, ended up disappearing as well (viaBBC).
How much did scammers make through the viralSquid Gamecryptocurrency scam?
TheSquid Gamecrypto scam was not the first of its kind, since the emergence of this online trading mechanism, users generally face some or the other kind of scam. However, this was one of the rare times when cybercriminals targeted people by the use of an alleged affiliation to a series. Soon after the crash of the token, users were still not able to sell their tokens and it was then warned that the token had no affiliation to the Netflix show but rather was a separate entity (via Forbes and WIRED).
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Taking advantage of the liquidity pool that exists between the tokens issued and Binance’s BNB token on the cryptocurrency exchange, the scammers created and issued the Squid tokens yet kept the supply for themselves. This allowed them to control the value of the tokens and later, they exchanged them for the BNB tokens, taking off with millions of dollars of funds (via WIRED). As reported by Forbes, they apparently cashed out approximately $2.5 million worth of finance coin tokens. However, as Gizmodo reported (viaBBC), the scammers made an estimated $3.38 million through theSquid Gametoken.
This incident serves as a stark reminder of the dangers associated with unregulated digital assets and the cryptocurrency market. Just as the series,Squid Game, showed the lengths people would go to for money, the scammers too did the same albeit utilizing a less deadly way. Thus, channeling the theme of the series and using its name, the scammers made it off with millions of dollars with no repercussions just as the series showed how the rich and powerful can make it off without being reprimanded for their dark and evil deeds.
Squid Gameis available to be streamed on Netflix.
Maria Sultan
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2703
Maria Sultan is a dedicated News Content Writer at FandomWire. With over five years of professional experience and hundreds of published articles, she brings a wealth of expertise to her coverage of Marvel, K-dramas, and the latest on streaming platforms.Her work is not just about reporting news; it’s about providing insightful perspectives on the entertainment trends that matter most.
