--- title: "Awesome Woman Destroys “Predatory” Crypto Scams by Shaming Them to Death" description: "Web3 sure is going great — just ask Molly White, the researcher whose crypto scam-busting skills have felled con artists left and right." date: "2022-05-31" modified: "2022-05-31" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/molly-white-crypto-scams" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "crypto" - "nfts" - "scams" - "the digest" - "web3" --- # Awesome Woman Destroys “Predatory” Crypto Scams by Shaming Them to Death ![Web3 sure is going great — just ask Molly White, the researcher whose crypto scam-busting skills have felled con artists left and right.]() *\Image: Web3 is going just great\* ## Crypto Cop Web3 sure is going great — just ask Molly White, a researcher who's putting the worst of crypto on blast for the whole world to see. In [a new interview with the *Washington Post*](), White, an avid Wikipedia editor in her spare time, said that although she'd been critical of cryptocurrencies for years, a recent shift resulted in her confronting the "predatory" industry head on. "People are putting in money that they can’t afford to lose," the software engineer-turned-researcher, whose blog "[Web3 is going just great]()" tackles the industry and all its scammer trappings, told *WaPo*. **"**They thought this might be their ticket out of poverty or they can finally stop working that minimum wage job and then all their savings are gone.**"** ## Exposed White's means of countering the crypto industry? Exposing them for what they are. Take, for instance, [White's takedown of the Cryptoland project]() in early 2022. Drawing comparisons to the disastrous Fyre Fest, the researcher points out, piece by piece, just how scammy the "world's first crypto island" project seemed. After revealing that Cryptoland's business address was located in the Seychelles Islands, a money laundering haven, people began taking note, investors jumped ship, and the project [now appears to be inactive](). https://twitter.com/kenfagerdotcom/status/1491172466475114497 ## Hack Attack Beyond taking on — and taking down — projects that appear to be overt scams like the now-defunct Cryptoland, White has also zeroed in on the crypto industry's major hacking problem that resulted in about $1.23 billion in crypto being stolen in the first quarter of 2022 alone, [according to one analysis](). "We’re seeing more and more incidents like this," White told *WaPo*, "where it’s not just someone losing some extra cash that they decided to take a risk on, but people losing the money that they need to live." **Per her blog's tally \[it autopopulates in the corner while you scroll to show much each story's scam is worth, p cool!\]**, White has exposed scams worth tens of billions of dollars in crypto and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. May we all endeavor to be as driven. **READ MORE:** [First she documented the alt-right. Now she’s coming for crypto.]() \[*The Washington Post*\] **More on crypto scams:** *[Elon Musk Alarmed By Deepfake of Him Endorsing Crypto Scams]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()