Pixel Penguins, an NFT venture allegedly created by an artist battling most cancers, has been uncovered as a rip-off utilizing stolen artwork.
How Pixel Penguins NFTs grew to become widespread
On Could 30, crypto influencer Andrew Wang wrote a Twitter thread detailing how the self-proclaimed pixel artist Hopeexist1 had been battling eye most cancers and creating digital artwork for the neighborhood.
Wang urged his neighborhood to contribute to the artist’s hospital payments by shopping for her artwork. He added:
“I hear quite a bit about how web3 isn’t what it was once, and I’m usually responsible of being a complainer greater than something. Fact is web3 is what we wish it to be, and for one, the artists right here haven’t stopped creating. We don’t have to decide on them however we will’t fake they don’t exist.”
The thread, alongside a number of others, quickly gathered sympathy and a focus from the broader neighborhood who donated to the trigger.
This elevated publicity helped the gathering to promote out quick and pattern on OpenSea. Nonetheless, additional scrutiny from the neighborhood quickly revealed that the NFTs had been stolen artwork and the particular person didn’t have most cancers.
Scammer remodeled $100k
In a Could 31 Twitter thread, blockchain investigator ZachXBT mentioned the Pixel Penguin contract had 61.686 ETH price over $117,000.
ZachXBT additional revealed that the scammer moved 63.5 ETH created from the rip-off to 2 new addressees on the OKX crypto trade.
In the meantime, the scammer has since deactivated her Twitter account, and the ground worth of the gathering tanked 86% to 0.004 ETH from a peak of 0.075 ETH on OpenSea. In line with information from the NFT market, Pixel Penguins recorded 6,582 gross sales, and its quantity was 216 ETH.
Moreover, Wang apologized for sharing the gathering, saying he believed it was actual.
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