Animoca Brands warns of “AxieCat” fraudulent claims and attempted business identity theft

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6 August 2021 -- HONG KONG -- Animoca Brands today issued a scam alert about “AxieCat”, a project that fraudulently claims to be from Animoca Brands. In reality, AxieCat has absolutely no connection to Animoca Brands, the management of Animoca Brands, or any of Animoca Brands’ subsidiaries.

 

As a result of AxieCat’s attempted business identity theft, Animoca Brands strongly recommends the public to stay away from AxieCat, to avoid participating in any of AxieCat’s token sales, and to avoid joining any of AxieCat’s social media communities. 

 

Animoca Brands also suspects that AxieCat is using dishonest techniques, including spoofing, in its communications on Telegram and other social media.

 

IMPORTANT SECURITY MEASURE

If you have already connected your crypto wallet to AxieCat or signed any transactions on the AxieCat website or the AxieCat pre-sale site, we highly recommend that you move all assets inside your wallet to a new wallet as soon as possible and avoid any further contact with AxieCat.

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Details of AxieCat scam

AxieCat is an allegedly upcoming crypto game that attempts to imitate the popular Axie Infinity in name, look, and gameplay. The AxieCat smart contract has been granted a security audit by TechRate. AxieCat is involved in selling tokens, and appears to have token offerings currently underway with additional sales to occur shortly.

 

The AxieCat website claims that AxieCat is a project with “Copyright © 2021 Animoca Brands Corporation Limited”. This copyright line is categorically false: Animoca Brands is not in any way involved or associated with AxieCat.

 

The AxieCat web site showcases the images and names of Animoca Brands co-founder and chairman Yat Siu and CEO Robby Yung, as well as a group photo that includes some employees of Animoca Brands, and presents all these persons as members of the AxieCat “Team”. In reality, none of these Animoca Brands individuals are in any way involved in AxieCat.

 

Additionally, a press release issued by AxieCat on 6 August 2021 falsely claimed that AxieCat was a project led by Yat Siu and Robby Yung.

 

AxieCat’s website address is provided by Domains By Proxy, a domain services company that deliberately conceals the identity of its users, rendering it very difficult to expose scammers and fraudsters involved in business identity theft attempts such as the one detailed in this alert. 

 

Evidence for AxieCat’s attempted business identity theft and scam is included at the end of this alert in the form of screenshots. Additionally, screenshots of a WHOIS lookup (https://who.is/whois/axiecat.com) are also provided.

 

Actions taken by Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands has identified and reported AxieCat social media accounts on Telegram, Twitter, and Reddit. The Reddit page has been taken down. The Twitter page has been temporarily restricted. We are waiting for Telegram to take action against the three AxieCat Telegram channels that we have reported.

 

Animoca Brands has reached out to AxieCat’s service providers including CloudFlare, GoDaddy, and Domains By Proxy to report the fraud, provide details of the scam, and request that services to AxieCat be suspended immediately.

 

Animoca Brands has contacted media including CoinMarketCap and CryptoDaily, which have responded by taking down AxieCat coverage and/or announcements - see removed content at

https://coinmarketcap.com/headlines/news/AxieCat-will-Soon-Launch-its-DeFi-based-Hybrid-Gaming-and-NFT-Services/ and at https://www.cryptodaily.co.uk/2021/08/AxieCat-will-Soon-Launch-its-DeFi-based-Hybrid-Gaming-and-NFT-Services. 

 

Animoca Brands has reached out to Binance Smart Chain (BSC, on which AxieCat claims it is being built) to alert it about the scam, and BSC confirmed that it will issue warnings to its community.

 

Animoca Brands has sent details of  AxieCat’s scam to TechRate, the company that provided the security audit for the AxieCat smart contract.

 

Animoca Brands will continue to work to protect its brands, its businesses, and the broader public against scams perpetrated by fraudulent projects such as AxieCat.

 

Animoca Brands is considering taking all necessary actions against the principals of AxieCat for copyright infringement, impersonation, and misrepresentation, and against organizations and individuals that enable AxieCat to perpetuate fraudulent claims.

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About Animoca Brands

Animoca Brands, ranked in the Financial Times list of High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2021, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification. Animoca Brands develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Formula 1®, Marvel, WWE, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Doraemon. Animoca Brands’ portfolio of blockchain investments and partnerships includes Sky Mavis (Axie Infinity), Dapper Labs (CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot), OpenSea, Harmony, Bitski, and Alien Worlds. Its subsidiaries include The Sandbox, Quidd, Gamee, nWay, Pixowl, and Lympo. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or get updates by following Animoca Brands on Facebook or Twitter.

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Animoca Brands global contact: press@animocabrands.com