Beware! Scammers Are Impersonating Central African Republic’s New Memecoin

Less than 24 hours after Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the president of the Central African Republic, launched a memecoin for the country, scammers have begun creating fake versions of the token and impersonating the project to steal victims’ funds.

According to a tweet by Scam Sniffer, cybercriminals are using fake Cloudflare captcha verification pages to deceive users into executing malicious code in their devices while trying to buy the Central African Republic (CAR) memecoin.

🚨 ALERT: Scammer modifying popular token information like $CAR and embedding fake Kick platform site through Linktree links.

They’re using fake Cloudflare captcha verification pages to trick users into executing malicious code. https://t.co/kLSonrA8fF pic.twitter.com/VC0NKQgLiL

— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) February 10, 2025

President Touadéra Launches CAR

On February 9, President Touadéra unveiled CAR as an “experiment” to show how memes can unite people and support national development. He added that the token will put the country on the world stage in a unique way.

Touadéra is one of the presidents who have fully embraced Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The Central African Republic adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2022, less than a year after El Salvador made the same move. Since then, the country has taken strategic steps to expand its digital asset industry, including creating a crypto hub and appropriate legislation.

The country initially launched the government-backed Sango Coin in mid-2021. However, the asset has performed poorly due to low local and international adoption. President Touadéra’s latest launch of a NationFi memecoin demonstrates the country’s commitment to innovation and the adoption of blockchain technology.

Meanwhile, Touadéra’s actions have inspired Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi to launch a memecoin for his country.

Scammers And Community Reaction

Although the launch of CAR represents a step further in crypto adoption, scammers have been taking advantage of loopholes in the project. Since detailed information about the project is yet to be made available, bad actors have modified already existing data about the token and embedded malicious sites through Linktree links.

Scam Sniffer found that these malicious links lead to fake Kick websites, which offer video live-streaming services. Interestingly, the crypto anti-scam platform detected the tactics used by the same threat actors earlier this year and issued warnings to users.

Notably, car.meme, the website dedicated to the CAR memecoin project, has been unresponsive for hours; hence, scammers have created fake sites infected with viruses.

While users are advised to carefully interact with links designated for the new project, crypto community members have received the news of the launch with mixed reactions. Many insist that President Touadéra should have doubled down on his support for Bitcoin instead of launching a memecoin.