The CyberLeek group, which gained notoriety through a series of GTA 6 gameplay leaks, pulled off a daring financial operation by crashing its own token. My analysis of on-chain data shows that the hackers extracted about $286,000 from the project, combining a classic dump with fee extraction.
Mechanics of the manipulation
Since mid-August, CyberLeek published gameplay videos, gradually embedding links to donation wallets and the address of the CYBERLEEK meme-token contract launched via PumpFun. The hype around the game did its job: the coin's market cap soared to a peak of ~$25 million. However, behind the facade of a "people's project" lay a well-thought-out scheme.
The key move — burning a reserve of 270 million CYBERLEEK (about $1.79 million at the time) — was designed to create an illusion of decentralization and trust. Subsequent videos led to a website where token holders voted on new leaks, sustaining engagement and price. But, as an investigation by user Vice Cit showed, this was a classic "pump" before the dump.
The moment of truth
The decisive blow came on August 27 — just hours before the official gameplay demonstration on Netflix. A wallet linked to the group received $154,683 in wSOL and 15.4 million CYBERLEEK as creator fees. The tokens were then sold for approximately $125,000, triggering a 40% price crash within minutes. In the following days, the asset plummeted from $0.03 to $0.003 — a 90% loss in value.
Part of the funds were transferred by the hackers to the exchanges KuCoin and CCE.Cash, with the rest going to private addresses. At the same time, it appears that not all CyberLeek wallets have been disclosed: they likely continued to dump small amounts from unknown addresses.
My conclusion: This story is a vivid example of how hype around high-profile events becomes fertile ground for manipulation. CyberLeek clearly expected a longer "milking" of the project, but the price drop and declining public interest forced them to act quickly. For investors, this is another reminder: meme tokens tied to scandalous news are not an asset but a tool for extracting liquidity from retail traders.