Crypto Scams Won’t Die: The Spectacular Rise and Crash of Conman Sahil Arora
Crypto's dark underbelly just won't quit. As regulators scramble, grifters like Sahil Arora keep finding fresh victims—proving greed moves faster than compliance.
How a Serial Hustler Played the System
Arora's blueprint was simple: exploit hype, disappear with the bag. From meme coin pumps to fake celebrity endorsements, his schemes read like a DeFi horror story. Then came the inevitable crash.
The Reckoning No One Saw Coming
When the house of cards collapsed, it wasn't regulators who pulled the plug—it was Arora's own arrogance. Exit scams work until your burner wallet gets doxxed.
Why This Keeps Happening
Crypto's 'move fast and break things' ethos has a nasty habit of breaking investors instead. Until accountability outpaces anonymity, the Sahil Aroras of the world will keep cashing in.
Wake-up call or déjà vu? In an industry where 'number go up' drowns out red flags, tomorrow's scammer is already minting their next rug pull. The market may be decentralized—but human nature isn't.
Crypto scams have grown widespread over the years due to the potential for high returns in newly launched tokens. Many investors in the crypto space lack the technical knowledge to verify projects.
Market trader and analyst Crypto Jargon on X has dropped a tell-all on how Indian businessman Sahil Arora orchestrated high-profile crypto scams.
Crypto Jargon shared the details in a series of X posts, which he titled “The rise and fall of Sahil Arora.”
How Sahil Arora Scammed Crypto Users Over $30 Million
According to Crypto Jargon, Arora duped crypto users of more than $30 million with over 200 fake tokens.
Arora created a flamboyant lifestyle on social media, amassing over 1.2 million followers on Instagram. His popularity on social media quickly gave him a misconstrued legitimacy as a crypto expert.
He often shared pictures with celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner, SwaeLee, Divine, Khabib, and several others. Arora even got some of them to promote his scam.
Arora joined the crypto space at the early age of 17 back in 2017 by founding the Vuzelaa Group in India.
He planned to launch Bitcoin ATMs worldwide at a time when barely anyone in India used crypto. Soon after, Arora relocated to Dubai to chase his dreams in the world of crypto.
He, however, got into a crypto scam after his proposals failed. He amassed millions through questionable deals behind the scenes, attracting investors who kept coming until everything fell apart.
Arora’s most infamous escapades involve pump-and-dump schemes using celebrity-endorsed tokens. He used celebrity endorsements to raise the value of tokens artificially.
Fans quickly rushed to buy a token once a celebrity tweeted the contract address. This drives up the price, and Arora WOULD then “dump” his holdings, selling at peak prices.
As a result, the value of the token drops, leaving investors with nearly worthless assets.
Some Notable Crypto Scams By Arora
In 2021, he created a token ‘FDO’ and got Soulja Boy to promote it as his first Firdaos NFT album.
He also scammed ZelaaPayAE and Zeela NFT and was part of the $9.57 billion ‘Broccoli’ token fraud. Arora made about $6.5 million from only his Pump and Dump schemes.
He also collaborated with Caitlyn Jenner to launch the JENNER tokens. Within a day of launching, the token surged from $0.01639 to $0.03021.
However, the token soon failed, and NBC reported Arora was faking excitement and selling his coins.
In some cases, Arora misled celebrities about the nature of the tokens. Many claimed they were unaware of the full scheme.
Each scam became more serious, and in 2023, everything came crashing down. An investigation exposed $30 million in scams. While victims were left with nothing, Arora spent the money on luxury cars and high life.
Backlash hit hard in April 2025. Arora apologized to the celebrities he scammed and promised to make things right.
On July 27, 2025, multiple reports surfaced that the police arrested Arora in Dubai and took over $20 million from him.
However, he shared a video on X to dismiss the reports of his arrest.
Why Crypto Scams Still Exist
Scammers take advantage of traders’ ignorance, as seen in Arora’s schemes, where investors bought into tokens without understanding their mechanics.
Additionally, smart contract bugs, phishing attacks, or fake websites can deceive crypto users. North Korea remains the biggest name in the game.
In 2024, North Korean hackers stole $1.34 billion, about 61% of all stolen crypto.
To avoid falling for crypto scams, users must conduct due diligence on any newly released schemes or assets they intend to invest in.
As crypto scams become prevalent, some blockchain firms have put preventive and recovery measures in place to protect their users.
For instance, Coinbase recently collaborated with the Secret Service to seize $225 million in USDT funds.
Likewise, the USDT stablecoin issuer, Tether, assisted the FBI in recovering $40,300 from the TRUMP inauguration crypto scam.
