Scam Alert for Dingo Token That Charges 99% Fee

Researchers have warned that a popular cryptocurrency is a scam, after spotting backdoor functionality designed to effectively steal users’ funds.

Dingo Token is relatively small by cryptocurrency standards: its market cap of close to $11m meant it ranked down in 774^th place by size when Check Point analyzed it.

However, its functionality has the security vendor concerned. It said the token’s developers have embedded backdoor functionality in the token’s smart contract which adds a 95% “taxFee”  and a 4% “LiquidityFee.”

Manipulation of this “setTaxFeePercent” function in the smart contract code of the token has been used 47 times by its developers, according to Check Point.

Oded Vanunu, head of product vulnerabilities research at Check Point, explained that what his firm found at Dingo Token is increasingly commonplace.

“This is a common tactic that locks users’ funds and eventually the scammers pull out all the money. Scammers are increasingly finding cryptocurrency attractive. They can stay anonymous. It’s fast. It’s lucrative,” he added.

“If you’ve incorporated crypto into your investment portfolio or are interested in investing in crypto in the future, you should use credible exchanges and buy from an established token with numerous transactions behind it.”

Users have already taken to Twitter to complain about being scammed.

“I transfer all my Dingo token wrong 1 wallet to another and deducted 90% of my tokens. Please explain that,” wrote one.

At the time of writing, the value of Dingo Token had surged 36% in a day to reach over $67m. That means it has shot up the rankings to reach #338, according to CoinMarketCap.

The concern for users is that its developers will activate the backdoor to take 99% of all users’ coins once they judge the value to have peaked.

According to the brief four-page white paper introducing the coin, there is only a 10% fee charged per transaction.

“It’s hard to ignore the appeal of crypto. It’s shiny, new and promises to change the world. If prices continue their upward trajectory, people have an opportunity to gain a significant amount of money,” concluded Check Point.

“However, cryptocurrency is a volatile market. Scammers will always find new ways to steal your money using cryptocurrency and new forms of crypto are constantly being minted.”