How much was lost in the JohnLennonC0IN hack?

The JohnLennonC0IN hack resulted in $11K in losses on January 23, 2024.

What attack technique was used in the JohnLennonC0IN exploit?

The JohnLennonC0IN exploit utilized Rugpull. Understanding this attack vector is critical for smart contract auditors and developers building secure DeFi protocols.

How can developers prevent similar smart contract attacks?

Preventing smart contract hacks requires a combination of secure coding practices, thorough security audits, and understanding common attack vectors like reentrancy, oracle manipulation, and access control flaws. Smart Contract Hacking (SCH) provides hands-on training to help developers and auditors identify and prevent vulnerabilities before deployment.

JohnLennonC0IN Hack

TOTAL LOST $11K

Low Jan 23, 2024 Rugpull

Affected Chain 2024 Incident surface

Recovered - No recovery reported

All-Time Rank #1935 By amount stolen

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull Target category

Incident Overview

Quick Summary

BEATLES token was rugpulled by scammer, total loss worth more 11,336 USD from PancakeSwap pool.

Details of the Exploit

BEATLES is a BEP20 token trading on PancakeSwap.When the token was created, the token creator sent tokens to three addresses, then a large number of tokens were sold,removed from the LP pool, frome these addresses.The scammers used disperse.app to send funds to multiple addresses, then bought and sold tokens from these addresses , affecting the token price. The deployer did not buy or sell tokens, but both the deployer and scammers received funds from the same address, indicating a scam under the guise of an honest project. Stolen funds were transferred to another EOA and then distributed between multiple addresses.

Block Data Reference

Deployer Address:

https://bscscan.com/address/0xBAb318f9…b11B9F

Scammer's Addresses:

https://bscscan.com/address/0x861091bE…aa7c4C

https://bscscan.com/address/0x4639026A…833EC8

https://bscscan.com/address/0xefbf0b01…961bcc

Liquidity Add Transaction:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x22642d3d…1ceb35

Liquidity Removal Transactions:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0xee3bdbc1…8c357a

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x54348d4e…bef544

Transactions where the scammer got the tokens:

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x83f76891…64f472

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x6307aca8…a95b7c

https://bscscan.com/tx/0x2b3bb025…91d6e6

Incident Report

Protocol / Project JohnLennonC0IN

Date of Incident January 23, 2024

Attack Technique Rugpull

Classification Token

Primary Source View Post-Mortem

Protocol Information

Protocol Type Exit Scam/Rugpull

Affected Token BEATLES

Team Anonymous

Source Code Verified On-Chain

What the Attacker Needed to Succeed

Understanding the prerequisites for this type of attack helps auditors identify protocols that are most at risk and helps developers build better defenses.

Technical Knowledge Deep understanding of rugpull and Solidity and EVM internals

Capital Required Seed capital to cover gas and initial position setup

On-Chain Access Ability to interact with smart contracts and deploy a custom exploit contract

Protocol Analysis Identification of the exploitable vulnerability in JohnLennonC0IN's contract logic - root cause: token

Execution Speed Precise transaction ordering and timing to exploit the vulnerability within a single atomic block

Obfuscation Plan A strategy to launder and move stolen funds - typically through mixers, cross-chain bridges, or decentralized DEX swaps to resist tracing

What Auditors Should Check

Could this have been caught in audit? Hard to catch — private key / OpSec failures are outside smart contract audit scope

If you're auditing a protocol with similar architecture to JohnLennonC0IN, these are the critical security checks that could have prevented this incident (January 2024).

Verify all logic paths related to Rugpull are guarded by proper access controls and input validation
Review privileged functions (owner, admin, governance) for potential abuse vectors - centralization risks should be documented and bounded with timelocks or multi-sigs

Master these auditing techniques with hands-on labs and real exploit scenarios in the Smart Contract Hacking course.

Free Trial

Sources & References

01
Source 1 https://twitter.com/CertiKAlert/status/1749820307907768740

Threat Assessment

Severity Level

LOW

Attack Vector Rugpull
Root Cause Token
Year 2024

Learn to Prevent the Next JohnLennonC0IN

The JohnLennonC0IN hack is one of many attacks that skilled auditors are trained to detect before deployment. Master real exploit patterns and defense techniques with hands-on Web3 security training.

Start Free Trial Browse Attack Library