In a bizarre turn of events, scammers pretending to be Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have launched a fake cryptocurrency. They’re clearly trying to cash in on the current hype around celebrity-linked memecoins, hoping to lure in unsuspecting investors.

These fraudsters, posing as the Crown Prince (who is also the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia), created this token specifically to attract funds from people who might not know any better.

The so-called “Official” Saudi Arabia memecoin (KSA) made its debut on February 17th, as announced on X by an account named “SaudiLawConf.” Turns out, this account is a fake, designed to impersonate the Crown Prince.

One of the first things that should have raised eyebrows about this token was the complete lack of any official word from the Saudi government. Plus, there were no real details about how the token actually worked or what it was supposed to do.

It wasn’t long after the scam coin surfaced that the real owners of the X account, the Saudi Law Conference, stepped in to clarify. They confirmed on LinkedIn on February 17th that their X account had been hacked by these impersonators. Here’s what they posted:

“The conference management announces that the official conference account in the X platform (@Saudilawconf) has been hacked, and any content currently published through the account does not represent our opinions or official orientations in any way.”

This Saudi scam coin arrived just days after the dramatic rise and fall of the Libra (LIBRA) token, which was linked to Argentine President Javier Milei. Remember that one? It plunged by over 94% in just hours after some insiders reportedly pulled out $107 million in liquidity, as Cointelegraph reported on February 15th.

So, how do you stay safe in this memecoin frenzy? Anndy Lian, author and blockchain expert, advises investors to do their homework. He told Cointelegraph,

“Don’t just throw your cash at something because it’s got a catchy name or claims to be ‘official.’ Check who’s behind the project. If the team is all mysterious or you can’t dig up any real info on them, that’s a red flag waving right in your face.”

He further emphasized, “Transparency is key. If they won’t show their faces, they might just be looking to run with your money.”

Related: Analysts predict delayed altcoin season amid lack of retail traders

Memecoins backed by political figures lead to multi-million investor losses

Here’s another major red flag: the token contract for this fake Saudi memecoin was actually created way back on February 10th – a whole week before the supposed announcement! It was launched on Pump.fun, a platform for Solana-based memecoins.

Despite all the fake hype, this token didn’t really take off. Pump.fun data reveals it only managed to gather about $7,489 in market capitalization since its launch. Pretty underwhelming.

Related: Milei-endorsed Libra token was “open secret” in memecoin circles — Jupiter

The current craze for celebrity-endorsed memecoins really got going after former US President Donald Trump launched his Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin on January 18th, quickly followed by First Lady Melania Trump’s Melania Meme (MELANIA) token on January 19th.

However, it’s worth noting that these celebrity coins haven’t exactly outperformed the rest of the crypto market so far.

Looking at the numbers, the Trump token is currently down over 76% from its peak, and the Melania coin is down even further, by over 90%, according to TradingView data.

And remember the Javier Milei-linked Libra coin? It’s also taken a massive hit, down over 92% from its high of $4.56 on February 15th, just before those insider wallets caused a $4 billion crash for the coin, Dexscreener data shows.