Follow-Up: The Doge Con
Exposing Bad Actors Manipulating the Doge Community
In the aftermath of the Doge statue scandal, it has become apparent that a network of bad actors has been manipulating the Dogecoin community for personal gain. These individuals have used the community's trust and enthusiasm to exploit it for financial benefit, engaging in fraudulent and deceptive practices that have caused significant harm.
Original article:
A Name Designed to Mislead
As explained in the previous article, there are enormous differences and distinctions between Dogecoin (Doge) and $Dog token that puts them light years away from each other. Whether it’s the decentralization aspect, the protocol and the blockchain or simply what they are used for, there is simply nothing comparable or equivalent between the two.
Since it’s creation, Dogecoin has always been targeted by other coins/tokens that wanted to use its success and well established community as leverage for their own gains. We have seen an increase, rather an explosion, of this phenomena since 2021 after the ‘‘explosion’’ of meme coins.
Spawning from the Ethereum network, the creation of ERC-20 tokens (non native assets) has never been so easy. Anybody can literally create their own token with the name they want. Example: baby inu token, baby lambo inu token, dogelon token, dog token… etc … etc…
Over 97% of these tokens are used for pump and dump schemes.
REPORT: 97.7% OF TOKENS LAUNCHED ON UNISWAP ARE RUG PULLS
https://www.cryptopolitan.com/uniswap-accounts-for-97-7-of-token-rug-pulls/
They usually use the same patterns as we can see in the graphic below in order to dupe incautious investors.
For more information on ERC-20 tokens and fraud please see article here:
All these new tokens targeting Dogecoin always have a common aspect, they all use a part of the name or image or both in order to piggyback on Doge’ success and they always try to leverage its well established community. Why work extra hard to create your own name and image when you can use someone else’s.
Therefore, It was no surprise when we saw yet another of these tokens target the Doge community, $Dog token.
From the start, what most people notice is the similitude in the name, dog/doge, which is purposely designed to mislead people and especially new investors.
But this token was different from the others. It had very wealthy investors backing it and especially paid promoters within the dogecoin community amongst their collaborators. This is what mostly helped it gain so much attention and success in such short time.
The Shilling of Fake Doge Tokens
Over the past years, several prominent members in the Doge community have aggressively and unscrupulously promoted the $dog token directly to the Dogecoin community falsely claiming it to be equivalent to Dogecoin. For example, saying that “$dog is doge’’
Hosting live spaces for and with Doge community members who were specifically targeted by these promotions of fake doge tokens.
The same prominent dogecoin community members shilled this wannabe doge token for years.
This misleading assertion has been particularly targeted at new community members, new shibes, who may not be aware of the differences between legitimate Dogecoin and the $dog token. This behavior is alarmingly close to fraud, akin to other notorious cryptocurrency scams such as BitConnect, where investors were misled about the true nature of the token and that it was not affiliated with Bitcoin at all.
Parasitic Tactics
These individuals operate like parasites, feeding off the well-established Dogecoin community's vitality and trust. Some of these individuals have actually confirmed in live spaces they were paid by Own The Doge to promote the $Dog token directly to the doge community. When confronted about this, they said they did not regret having done any of this.
By leveraging the community's goodwill, they manage to extract financial contributions out of the Dogecoin community at will as if it was a milk cow. These contributions and donations support their deceptive endeavors. See previous article for an in depth analysis on how key actors succeeded to defraud the dogecoin community for over $100K usd worth of donations using these tactics.
Over the years, many people came to me in private/dm on X (Twitter) asking for guidance and telling me they had bought $Dog token thinking it had something to do with Dogecoin because of its name and because of the way it was promoted/shilled by such prominent and trusted dogecoin community members. I will not post the screenshots of these private conversations because not only these individuals came to me privately trusting my secrecy but also because I fear they would most definitely suffer severe backlash from the people involved and their followers.
It is important to note that over the years, when the people who shilled fake doge tokens were actually confronted by myself and others whether it was live in spaces or in numerous public threads, they all answered that if people bought because of a misunderstanding they may have caused, it was not their problem and they all said it was up to the investor to be more cautious.
False Assurances and Misdirection
Some bad actors played crucial roles in perpetuating the statue scam by falsely claiming they had the city's authorization for the project. This was later proven to be a lie, as no such authorization was in place at the time of their assurances. These deceitful claims were part of a broader strategy to gain the community's trust and financial support under false pretenses.
The Screening Process
The deception was further reinforced through controlled environments where dissenting voices were silenced. Notable community member Good Shibe experienced this firsthand when he followed the question screening process for a live space organized by Own The Doge (OTD) with Tridog and Gary. Despite submitting important and legitimate questions, he never received any answers. This orchestrated effort to avoid transparency allowed bad actors to maintain their grip on the narrative and continue their exploitative practices.
https://x.com/GaryLachance/status/1784324683795501227?t=ULh3MFMVyYCk6PoPxKistg&s=19
Manipulating the Community
The actions of these bad actors have revealed a troubling pattern of manipulation within the Dogecoin community. By presenting themselves as trustworthy figures and leveraging the community's goodwill, they have managed to amass massive contributions and gains. This has not only harmed individual investors but also undermined the overall trust and integrity of the Dogecoin movement.
A Collective Commitment to Integrity
As the community delves deeper into the layers of deceit, it's evident that vigilance and transparency are indispensable in safeguarding the integrity of Dogecoin.
Community members must exercise caution whenever a seemingly irresistible opportunity presents itself. While the allure of the "new shiny thing" may be tempting, it's crucial to approach it with skepticism. Like Patrick Lodder often says: ‘‘don’t trust, verify!”
Be aware of the possible and sometimes constant manipulation certain individuals exercise with total impunity within the Dogecoin community.
By exposing these bad actors and their manipulative tactics, the Dogecoin community can take steps to prevent future scams and protect the values that define the movement.