NFT artist allegedly battling cancer revealed to be scam

Pixel Penguins, an NFT task allegedly created by an creator battling cancer, has been exposed arsenic a scam utilizing stolen art.

How Pixel Penguins NFTs became popular

On May 30, crypto influencer Andrew Wang wrote a Twitter thread detailing however the self-proclaimed pixel creator Hopeexist1 had been battling oculus crab and creating integer creation for the community.

Wang urged his assemblage to lend to the artist’s infirmary bills by buying her art. He added:

“I perceive a batch astir however web3 isn’t what it utilized to be, and I’m often blameworthy of being a complainer much than anything. Truth is web3 is what we privation it to be, and for one, the artists present haven’t stopped creating. We don’t person to take them but we can’t unreal they don’t exist.”

The thread, alongside respective others, soon gathered sympathy and attraction from the broader assemblage who donated to the cause.

This accrued publicity helped the postulation to merchantability retired accelerated and inclination connected OpenSea. However, further scrutiny from the assemblage soon revealed that the NFTs were stolen creation and the idiosyncratic did not person cancer.

Scammer made implicit $100k

In a May 31 Twitter thread, blockchain researcher ZachXBT said the Pixel Penguin declaration had 61.686 ETH worthy implicit $117,000.

ZachXBT further revealed that the scammer moved 63.5 ETH made from the scam to 2 caller addressees astatine the OKX crypto exchange.

Meanwhile, the scammer has since deactivated her Twitter account, and the level terms of the postulation tanked 86% to 0.004 ETH from a highest of 0.075 ETH connected OpenSea. According to data from the NFT marketplace, Pixel Penguins recorded 6,582 sales, and its measurement was 216 ETH.

Additionally, Wang apologized for sharing the collection, saying helium believed it was real.

The station NFT creator allegedly battling crab revealed to beryllium scam appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.