KIKI Community Unmasks Thief, Seizes Project Control Through Forensic Bot

The collapse of KIKI, a once-$3 million crypto project, began with a cryptic message from James Afante: “Guys, my wallet got hacked.” It was January 11th, 3 PM, and the event triggered a cascade of revelations that led to a full community takeover of the project [1]. James, a core member of the team, had seen all his holdings dumped in a matter of minutes. The move was so swift and clean that suspicion arose—was it a hack or a betrayal?

In a move that underscored his commitment to the project, James reportedly sold his luxury watches to repurchase KIKI tokens, not out of financial need but to signal trust in the community. However, the suspicious nature of the theft led to whispers that James himself might be behind it. When confronted with these rumors, he turned to the team for help, seeking clarity on what had truly occurred [1].

What emerged from this crisis was the transformation of the KIKI PI bot—a basic tracking tool—into a forensic weapon. Originally designed to monitor token allocations among KOLs and contributors, it became the key to unraveling the theft. The team noticed that the stolen tokens had moved through a specific wallet that had previously interacted with James’. James recognized it as his friend’s wallet, a connection that led to a dramatic confrontation in Malaysia [1].

The accused, under pressure and armed with undeniable digital evidence—including transaction logs, wallet paths, and screenshots—eventually broke down. He admitted to orchestrating the theft out of jealousy, claiming, “I’ve always been jealous of you, James. You never made me part of anything.” His wallet contained a suspicious amount of cash and new assets that couldn’t be explained, further confirming the team’s suspicions [1].

Thanks to the KIKI PI bot, the community was able to track the stolen assets and recover them within days. A team member was dispatched to the Philippines to retrieve the money and tokens based on the bot’s analysis of the most likely locations [1].

Following this, the focus turned to Jay Ha, the original founder, who had vanished months earlier. It was revealed that he had secretly sold locked KIKI tokens to cover “internal expenses,” including payments to friends and exchange listings. Despite the project already holding over $2 million in treasury funds, there was no legitimate reason for the sales. These actions, confirmed by JayC, another early member, indicated that the tokens were moved through MEXC to avoid public tracking [1].

The bot also uncovered other wallet clusters linked to private dumping and insider trading. The deeper the investigation went, the clearer it became that Jay had transformed the project into a mechanism for private exits. The community began revoking access for those involved, disconnecting wallets, revoking admin rights, and removing Jay Ha from all communications. Some early supporters flipped sides, handing over passwords or sharing private logs, while others attempted to hide, but the damage was irreversible [1].

By the end of the process, a full report was compiled mapping out every wallet involved in dumping, lying, and circumventing locks. The community, once betrayed, had turned the tables, seizing control of the project and ensuring accountability. What began as a theft turned into a lesson in community resilience and blockchain transparency [1].

Source: [1] How KIKI’s betrayal led to a community takeover (https://coinmarketcap.com/community/articles/689f4b6427535303f8990de3/)