In the shadowy realm of Web3, where unscrupulous individuals employ deceitful tactics for personal gain, a project has sunk to new depths. A scammer behind the "Pixel Penguins" scheme manipulated NFT influencers by fabricating a cancer story to promote their NFT collection.
Although the Pixel Penguins project initially struggled to gain attention with its 10k NFTs, its founder, operating under the aliases hopeexists1 and Sarah, devised a more malicious plan.
By leveraging the influence of "NFT influencers," Sarah spun a tale of cancer, expensive treatments, and eye removal. In April, her story found its first success when an Azuki collector named Levi fell for the ruse, resulting in modest gains for Sarah.
However, the real breakthrough came when Andrew Wang, an "influencer" boasting 100k Twitter followers, got involved. On May 31, Andrew tweeted about Sarah's plight, claiming personal acquaintance with the artist and her sphere of influence.
Following the tweet, the Pixel Penguins project rapidly sold out and gained popularity on OpenSea.
I woke up today to see one of my friends trending on twitter, @Hopeexist1. she made a collection to help herself battle cancer and some awesome web3 people spotlighted her today, so i'd like to add to it 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Fr5Mcu26eR
— andrew wang (@andr3w) May 30, 2023
As word spread about the unexpected surge of Pixel Penguins, more discerning members of the NFT community took it upon themselves to delve deeper. Their investigation uncovered a series of illicit activities, including art theft, fabricated cancer stories, and suspicious transactions.
Renowned crypto investigator, ZachXBT, revealed that the project absconded with 61.686 ETH ($117k), which has now been transferred to two newly created addresses. Trading of Pixel Penguins has been halted, and all online platforms and social media accounts associated with the collection have mysteriously disappeared.
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