Singapore Entrepreneur Loses Six Figures in Crypto to Game-Testing Scam
Another day, another crypto cautionary tale—this time with a six-figure price tag and a side of 'play-to-earn' heartbreak.
The Setup: Too Good to Be True
A seemingly legitimate game-testing opportunity dangled the ultimate carrot: earn cryptocurrency by playing. The promise? A straightforward path to passive income. The reality? A sophisticated trap designed to drain digital wallets.
The Hook, Line, and Sinker
The scam operated with chilling efficiency. Initial, small withdrawals worked flawlessly—building that all-important trust. Then came the 'system upgrade' or 'gas fee' narrative, the classic pressure to deposit more to 'unlock' the growing, phantom balance. One final, large transfer later, and the digital vault slammed shut.
The Aftermath: A Cold Wallet and Colder Comfort
The entrepreneur's six-figure crypto portfolio vanished into the blockchain's opaque ether. Recovery? Nearly impossible. The decentralized, pseudonymous nature of the transactions means the funds are likely gone for good—a brutal reminder that in crypto, being your own bank also means being your own security detail.
Staying Safe in the Wild West
Vet everything. If an offer requires connecting your wallet to an unknown dApp, run a background check on the project. Never share private keys or seed phrases. Ever. Remember the oldest rule in the book: if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is—a maxim the traditional finance crowd loves to trot out, usually while missing their own asset bubbles.
The Bottom Line
Innovation attracts pioneers, and pioneers attract bandits. This incident isn't an indictment of crypto's potential—it's a stark warning about the landscape's current perils. For every legitimate project building the future, there are a dozen cons ready to mine your wallet instead. The technology empowers, but the human element—greed, naivety, cunning—remains the most volatile variable of all.
Polished Website and Active Discord Helped Lure Victim Into Crypto Scam
Koh said he was convinced the project was legitimate due to its polished website, an active Discord server, and responsive team members.
As someone who has invested in and evaluated multiple Web3 projects, he said the setup did not initially raise red flags.
The situation changed after he downloaded MetaToy’s game launcher. Koh said the installer quietly uploaded malware onto his computer.
Although his Norton antivirus software flagged suspicious activity, Koh attempted to contain the issue by running full system scans, removing suspicious files and registries, and reinstalling Windows 11.
Despite those efforts, the damage had already been done. Within 24 hours, every software wallet connected to his Rabby and Phantom browser extensions was drained.
In total, Koh lost 14,189 USDT, or roughly 100,000 yuan, representing crypto he had accumulated over eight years.
A Singapore-based entrepreneur just lost his entire crypto stack after downloading what looked like a legit beta game.
Mark Koh joined a Telegram beta test for a game called MetaToy. The site looked real. The Discord was active. The team was responsive. So he downloaded the… pic.twitter.com/SSzwPLaW1a
Koh said the attack appeared highly targeted and urged others, particularly angel investors and developers who are more likely to download beta software, to take additional precautions.
He advised users to remove seed phrases from browser-based wallets when not actively in use and to consider using private keys instead of seed phrases to limit exposure across derivative wallets.
The fraud has been reported to Singapore police, which confirmed to Lianhe Zaobao that it has received a corresponding report.
The MetaToy incident comes amid a broader rise in malware campaigns targeting crypto users.
In October, McAfee warned that hackers were abusing GitHub repositories to keep banking malware connected to new servers.
This year has also seen fake AI tools, malicious Captchas and compromised ethereum code extensions used to spread crypto-stealing malware.
Investor Loses $3M in Crypto Phishing Scam
In August, a cryptocurrency investor fell victim to a phishing scam, losing $3.05 million in Tether (USDT) after unknowingly signing a malicious blockchain transaction.
The loss, flagged by blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain on Wednesday, underscores the rising threat of phishing attacks targeting digital asset holders.
The attacker exploited a common habit among crypto users: validating only the first and last few characters of a wallet address while ignoring the middle.
Crypto investors lost over $2.2 billion to hacks, scams, and breaches in the first half of 2025, driven largely by wallet compromises and phishing attacks, according to CertiK’s latest security report.
Wallet breaches alone caused $1.7 billion in losses across just 34 incidents, while phishing scams accounted for over $410 million across 132 attacks.
