Beware the Honeypot: How Telegram Channels Used Actors to Promote Scams

Executive summary: The CertiK analysis documents a coordinated campaign of Telegram channels (e.g., AltLex, DON CRYPTON, SZ Trades) that used paid performers, edited telegra.ph guides, and malicious ERC‑20 contracts (honeypots) to promote counterfeit tokens (Linea, Paxos, Circle, Venom, Manta, X1, etc.), resulting in roughly $3.2M in losses. The report links at least 10 scam contracts, identifies associated EOAs and funding paths, describes a signature unverified function used to manipulate liquidity and mint/burn tokens, and provides actionable IOCs and behavioral TTPs for detection and attribution.