They took the digital cash and ran.
Prosecutors in New York’s Southern District Thursday charged two 20-year-olds in reference to an alleged NFT scam.
Ethan Vinh Nguyen and Andre Marcus Quiddaoen Llacuna had been charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit cash laundering for allegedly promoting bogus NFTs to buyers earlier than abandoning the undertaking, shutting down their web site, and absconding with $1.1 million in digital funds.
NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens, are digital property supposedly made distinctive and due to this fact scarce by means of block-chain expertise. In current years NFTs have fueled a growth in gross sales of digital artwork.
“The trending market and demand for NFT investments has not only drawn the attention of real artists, but scam artists as well,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent In Charge Ricky Patel mentioned in an announcement. “The arrested thieves allegedly hid behind online identities where they promised investors rewards, giveaways, and exclusive opportunities before implementing their ‘rug pull’ scheme – leaving investors with empty pockets and no legitimate investment.”
Prosecutors say the pair had pulled up stakes on their so-called “Frosties” sequence of NFTs — deleting the web site and transferring the $1.1 million throughout a number of digital wallets — inside hours of promoting out the digital tokens.
Nguyen and Llacuna had been planning to repeat the digital fly-by-night act with a March 26 NFT drop referred to as “Embers”, prosecutors mentioned.
The pair resist 20 years in jail in convicted.
