Unfair Play in Moonrise contest and Phishing Scammer Concerns from Moonbeam insider

TL;DR:

  • Evidence raises serious concerns about the fairness of the Moonbeam community contest - Moonrise:

    • Insider involvement: Several wallets participated Moonrise event including Top 1 winner 0x76322F53b91Cb8849dfB2007eD862940934B3520 linked to svpatrik registered and earned points before the official contest announcement and leveraged insider advantages.
    • Multiple wallet violations: The insider used multiple wallets to claim rewards, violating the “one entry per person” rule.
  • Phishing scammer connection: One of the svpatrik’s wallets is associated with a phishing-linked address( Fake_Phishing276037) on Ethereum mainnet, posing potential security risks.

  • Goal: To obtain a thorough explanation and investigation from the Moonbeam Foundation, ensuring the fairness and security of community events while mitigating potential risks.


Background

I thought I’d check back on the Moonrise event for any updates.

Nothing new, sadly. But hey, I just realized you can view individual user IDs on the leaderboard. So naturally, I clicked on the top spot out of curiosity. Aleks Smith. Hmm… account registered in July 2024. Interesting timing since I remember the event was only announced in August. Quick check: yup, the announcement went out on August 6th. So this account was registered before the event began… maybe it was internal testing or something?

The link of Aleks Smith profile:
quests.moonbeam.network/user/df7249c3-2726-4981-83e0-ae2a2bfa21bb

The screenshot of Aleks Smith profile:

But wait, that would mean it’s an insider, right? Starting a day earlier might not sound like much, but in a points-based game, that insider edge could definitely make a difference. Eh, I guess it happens everywhere. Somehow, insiders always end up winning.

Still, I couldn’t help but dig deeper. The Moonbeam team had shared the last few digits of the top wallet address on Twitter, so I decided to track it down.


Evidence

  • Wallet Identification: The top wallet address was 0x763…520, and after searching, I found the full address by using top accounts info on moonscan: 0x76322F53b91Cb8849dfB2007eD862940934B3520. This wallet received a 58K GLMR reward.

  • Insider Connection: The wallet’s ENS name is svpatrik.eth, registered in 2023. A quick search confirmed this is an insider, svpatrik.

app.ens.domains/0x76322f53b91cb8849dfb2007ed862940934b3520

Evidence screenshot of the insider address 1:
https://imgur.com/gallery/evidence-of-insider-address-1-jWhoWaB

Evidence screenshot of the insider address 2:

  • Multiple Wallets:
    • Another top 10 wallet, 0x4fa446cd1ab0293664198139c65f59ba4694cf81, received 17K GLMR, and is funded by svpatrik.eth.

Funded transaction tx on Moonbeam:

0x22529727b53147765b5e8f61f5ea8fcd2a8224290299d856d7a766c9219f95b9

Received Moonrise reward tx:

0x55ecf2253c675daabf71ffd198c0d0c851b661408482012bbd5924e39c606d24

  • A third wallet, ranked 21st, Shurmon hugle, received 8.7K GLMR and is also linked to svpatrik.eth.
  • There are more wallets, another top ten profile registered on 24th July 2024, Satoshi Nakamoto:

quests.moonbeam.network/user/7f35ab21-2784-4bcd-9ed1-0a731ade1daf

  • Ranked 11, Moon Man, registered on 21st June 2024, Moon Man:

quests.moonbeam.network/user/6de78b9f-dc7b-465f-903b-26d534605c84

In total, svpatrik has taken over 110,000 GLMR across multiple wallets. And if I keep looking, who knows how many more are stashed away?


Phishing Scammer Connection

One of the most alarming discoveries in this investigation is that 0x76322F53b91Cb8849dfB2007eD862940934B3520, linked to svpatrik, is funded by a wallet on the Ethereum mainnet identified as 0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445 (Fake_Phishing276037). This strongly suggests a connection between an insider and a phishing-associated address.

Eth mainnet tx: 0xfb05efc8101a7a0bfe21570d5e777a077f077ad202185ebea148a8fc9e6c05e2

Screenshot of the transaction:

This is absolutely not one of those typical phishing scams involving tiny transactions worth just a few cents. Instead, it’s a 0.026 ETH transaction, which was worth approximately $83 at the time it occurred. Moreover, this transaction was the very first activity for the wallet 0x76322F53b91Cb8849dfB2007eD862940934B3520.

If it were a phishing attempt, it’s highly unlikely that a phishing wallet would target an empty wallet with no prior activity. The nature of this transaction strongly suggests a direct connection between the two wallets. It even raises the possibility that both wallets belong to the same individual or organization.

This raises significant concerns because similar scenarios have been reported in recent news. For example, hacking groups such as those linked to North Korea or other cybercriminal organizations have allegedly infiltrated crypto projects by obtaining insider positions. Once inside, they gain access to sensitive project information, exploit vulnerabilities, and potentially take control of critical project operations. Such activities have led to devastating financial and reputational damages to the affected projects.

Given these risks, this issue is far more than a simple rule violation—it could pose a serious security threat to the Moonbeam ecosystem. The connection between svpatrik and a phishing-linked address warrants immediate investigation to ensure the safety of both the project and its community.


Concerns

These findings are deeply concerning for several reasons:

  1. Unfair Play: Allowing insiders to participate with multiple wallets undermines the fairness of the community contest and the integrity of the event.
  2. Violation of Rules: The contest rules clearly state:
  • “Limit to one (1) entry per person.”
  • “employees, independent contractors, officers, and directors of Sponsor, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion, and fulfillment agencies, and legal advisors, and their immediate family members and persons living in the same household, are not eligible to participate in the Contest.”
  1. Security Risks: The connection between an insider’s wallet and a phishing-linked address raises potential security concerns for the community.
  2. Damage to Trust: These issues could erode trust in Moonbeam’s ecosystem and tarnish its reputation.

Suggestions

To address these issues and protect the community, I propose:

  • Investigate thoroughly: Conduct a detailed investigation into the involvement of svpatrik and related wallets.
  • Strengthen policies: Review internal procedures to prevent insider participation and security risks in future events.

Conclusion

The reason I chose to share this on the forum instead of social media is that I want to protect the Moonbeam community. I genuinely hope we can resolve this issue within the community, rather than having it exploited by others to FUD the project.

What ultimately made me decide to reveal my findings is discovering that svpatrik has connections to a phishing organization. This is not something to take lightly or laugh about—it’s a serious matter that needs to be addressed. I hope the community and team can understand my stance and take appropriate action.

hey, first of all, thank you for taking care of the community and ensuring everything remains transparent and honest. I also appreciate you taking the time to do this research!

I have a few notes to clarify:

  1. moderators wallets likely funded many other wallets. this is because we often provided gas funds to users who were stuck without gas, especially early on when there was no way to acquire GLMR for gas after the launch

  2. all top 10 participants went through KYC, so their identities and compliance have been verified

  3. there’s no way anyone started earlier, as all campaign data was reset at the launch

  4. the Foundation never gave moderators any advance notice about the campaign, so there’s no way for insider advantages to exist. Even if moderators knew about the campaign platform before its launch, it wouldn’t have mattered, as the conditions were the same for everyone, and no one received extra points in advance


could you clarify what you mean by “Insider Connection?”

as mentioned above, no one gained any advantage from the campaign, not even moderators. some community members found the quest platform early and shared it in chats, but even then, all campaign data was reset at launch. everyone started with zero points, ensuring a fair start


could you share specific txhashes as evidence that these addresses are linked to svpatrik.eth - It would help to verify and understand the context better


I see that the Fake_Phishing address (0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445) has transferred funds to a ton number of different addresses. It’s hard to determine the exact reason for this activity or why the funds were specifically transferred to so many different addresses

https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445&p=728

https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445&p=727

https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445&p=726

https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445&p=725

actually, I went through a ton of addresses, and most of them were funded by the same phishing address, which is really weird. eg >

https://etherscan.io/address/0xca8e20ca96c4ed1fa0c6649d1dfa5d1d6b8a088b https://etherscan.io/address/0xf2788f66df33c1f0a2a06dc752f7df60d352dfbb https://etherscan.io/address/0xbd30da9fca7fa5698fc590ca5dbca1dacce62e20 https://etherscan.io/address/0xcd207c53fe57aff9344cff7b3497c9e3def6f102 https://etherscan.io/address/0x9db93caf499bcb7dcb6b1cdb1e9e5a5b46ca32a5

i took these addresses from > https://etherscan.io/txs?a=0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445&p=724


regarding this point in the contest rules, I believe moderators may not fall under these restricted categories

Those address have transactions on other network apart from moonbeam, like ETH mainnet. For example, Top 1 address 0x76322F53b91Cb8849dfB2007eD862940934B3520( svpatrik.eth) sent funds to one of the top 10 address 0x4FA446CD1AB0293664198139c65f59BA4694CF81 on ETH mainnet, and they are both related to 0x2b619E33c2A431E6fc9a887F6268D2eB7342088B https://etherscan.io/tx/0xd89fc7cdfa2a43306de6cb72c6a313061b21af7158fc05609cde0fbcdbc27801

Rank 21 Shurmon hugle is svpatrik’s another account on twitter
x.com
Shurmon hugle - Album on Imgur

Other accounts can ask airlyft for more evidences.


This address must have been involved in scams or similar activities and received numerous complaints to be flagged as a “Fake Phishing” address. As for how exactly they use these addresses to carry out fraud, I honestly don’t know. However, I think that any address associated with it is likely part of the same scam network.


Moonbeam foundation pays salary to moderators each month, they also have contracts, so moderators definitely should be identified as contractors or affiliates. Therefore, their participation should be invalid.

Hello. This is my account. Anyone could have registered for the campaign earlier, as soon as the quests were announced. But the points only started to be counted from August 6th.

Yes, I know someone who won a prize. If it had been my wallet, I would have asked to change it when the address confirmation email arrived so it wouldn’t be linked to mine.

Previously, I worked as a moderator in a Telegram chat for educational courses on cryptocurrency. I helped many students create wallets and Twitter accounts and taught them how to transfer tokens from their wallets to exchanges. Also, as a community moderator, I often transferred tokens to users to pay for gas for transactions. Because of this, it’s not surprising that many people have me as their sponsor wallet.

Regarding the Moonrise campaign, I shared my referral link on Twitter and Warpcast, and I also sent it to all my friends. I helped many people complete the tasks, but not everyone won prizes because some were either lazy or didn’t have enough time to participate every day. The winner is not a relative of mine, we don’t live in the same house, and the rules do not prohibit friends from participating.

The winner has passed KYC, he has completed all the tasks himself. If there are any doubts, the team can contact him directly and ask any questions of interest. If the user has completed the quest himself, he will be able to answer all the questions.

Phishing scammer connection: One of the svpatrik’s wallets is associated with a phishing-linked address( Fake_Phishing276037) on Ethereum mainnet, posing potential security risks.

As the Tourist said, that the Fake_Phishing address (0x56b217cc582e19B3ca933Fd411E85ca7DeF68445) has transferred funds to a ton number of different addresses. It’s hard to determine the exact reason for this activity or why the funds were specifically transferred to so many different addresses

*** There are more wallets, another top ten profile registered on 24th July 2024, Satoshi Nakamoto:**

quests.moonbeam.network/user/7f35ab21-2784-4bcd-9ed1-0a731ade1daf

*** Ranked 11, Moon Man, registered on 21st June 2024, Moon Man:**

quests.moonbeam.network/user/6de78b9f-dc7b-465f-903b-26d534605c84

Could you please share some information on how these wallets are related to mine?

1. Violation of Rules: The contest rules clearly state:

*** “Limit to one (1) entry per person.”**
*** “employees, independent contractors, officers, and directors of Sponsor, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion, and fulfillment agencies, and legal advisors, and their immediate family members and persons living in the same household, are not eligible to participate in the Contest.”**

I asked if moderators could take part in the campaign, and the team replied that they could.

Rank 21 Shurmon hugle is svpatrik’s another account on twitter

I see this post from 2021. I don’t even remember what it is. How is this address related to mine during the campaign?

Thank you for bringing these concerns to our attention. We want to reassure everyone that we take allegations like these very seriously. The integrity of our community and campaigns are a top priority for Moonbeam, and we are committed to transparency in addressing these issues. After conducting an internal investigation, we found no evidence to support the claims of insider advantage or rule violations by SvPatrik.

Here are the key findings from our investigation:

  • Moderators, including SvPatrik, were approved to participate in the Moonrise campaign. Moreover, all points from testing were reset to zero on Day 0, ensuring a level playing field for everyone.
  • The contest was structured so that no insider information could provide an advantage. Winning required completing all tasks diligently, which SvPatrik achieved alongside other participants.
  • Regarding the wallet connection, while we acknowledge the link to a flagged address, our investigation found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing or direct involvement with the phishing wallet. The initial activity from SvPatrik’s wallet predates the flagged transaction, suggesting the funds sent by the phishing wallet may have been unsolicited. Based on the available information, this does not implicate SvPatrik in any malicious activity.

We want to emphasize that SvPatrik has been a dedicated and respected member of our community. Her contributions include moderating our Discord, engaging on socials, growing our ecosystem, onboarding new users, and even hosting a Moonbeam presentation. Her integrity and efforts have consistently been valuable to our community.

We deeply appreciate the vigilance of community members who raise concerns, as it allows us to address misunderstandings and ensure fairness. If anyone has additional evidence, questions, or suggestions, we encourage you to share them so we can continue to uphold the integrity of the Moonbeam ecosystem.

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