Report: Chinese authorities apprehend individual responsible for forging identities in StarkNet airdrop

Chinese authorities have apprehended an individual suspected of engaging in identity forgery in connection with the StarkNet (STRK) airdrop. The suspect allegedly assumed the identities of others and submitted more than 40 fraudulent forms for the Early Community Member Program (ECMP) airdrop, fraudulently claiming over 40,000 STRK tokens that originally belonged to the victims. Subsequently, the suspect transferred the tokens to an OKX wallet, converting them into over $91,000 worth of Tether (USDT), as reported by local media on April 30.
The suspect, identified as Lan Mou, was arrested by the police in Guangdong Province on April 25, along with a computer and two mobile phones.
While cryptocurrency scams and phishing attacks are prevalent, this case appears to be the first instance of large-scale identity theft for the purpose of claiming other users’ airdrops.
A crypto airdrop is a method of distributing new cryptocurrency, typically targeting early users who have interacted with a specific protocol.
On February 20, the StarkNet Foundation, which supports the Ethereum layer-2 Starknet network, launched a 700 million STRK token airdrop. The airdrop aimed to reward Ethereum solo and liquid stakes, Starknet developers and users, as well as projects and developers outside the Web3 ecosystem.
The airdrop garnered significant interest, with the initial 45 million STRK tokens being claimed in under 90 minutes.
On February 20, Banteg, a pseudonymous developer from Yearn.finance, cautioned that the eligibility list for the StarkNet airdrop primarily consisted of airdrop squatters. These individuals are professional airdrop hunters who solely engage with protocols that offer airdrops in the hopes of financial gains.
According to Banteg, approximately 701,544 of the 1.3 million eligible wallet addresses were purportedly associated with repeat or renamed GitHub accounts controlled by airdrop squatters. These individuals often utilize multiple addresses to maximize their rewards from a single airdrop.
In March 2023, it was revealed that airdrop hunters consolidated $3.3 million worth of tokens from the Arbitrum (ARB) airdrop into just two wallets that they controlled, using 1,496 wallets initially.
Scammers should be cautious as there is a crypto vigilante on the loose.