Enthusiasts of virtual assets and non-fungible tokens (NFT) face all sorts of fraud risks, even from seemingly legitimate platforms. Such seems to be the case with Iconics, a Solana-based NFT project, which is being accused of defrauding its investors of more than $130,000 USD.
In theory, the Iconics project consisted of 8,000 NFTs of a bust in 3D design, sold through specialized websites. This project is the brainchild of an unidentified digital artist, who would have decided to take his word for it and disappear with thousands of dollars in his pockets.
The pre-sale took place yesterday after 2,000 NFT were sold at a base price of 0.5 SOL. Not a full day had passed when users learned that instead of receiving a high-quality artistic design, they would simply be handed a file with random emojis.
Soon after, the Iconics server on Discord had been shut down, as had the Twitter account associated with the project. By checking the transactions on Solana, users could see that the estfador had received around 1000 units of cryptocurrency worth almost $140,000 according to the current exchange rate. In turn, these funds were transferred to other accounts.
Scammed users teamed up to create a Discord channel where they can share their experience and see if it’s possible to take any action against this scammer, while also trying to move on with the project.
Dozens of affected users showed their annoyance in specialized forums and social media platforms such as Twitter.
Operators and participants of other projects in Solana such as Anti Social Robots Club, SGF and Skyline have even offered virtual assets to users affected by this new case of fraud in the digital art world.
To learn more about information security risks, malware variants, vulnerabilities and information technologies, feel free to access the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) websites.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
