\n
![](\"https:\/\/readwrite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/84ed3e9d-1e66-4340-8dcc-87aa6c74ee1d-900x514.webp\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
The United States Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of New York has charged three individuals<\/a> \u2014 Mohamed-Amin Atcha, Mohamed Rilaz Waleedh, and Daood Hassan \u2014 with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with the 2021 \u201cEvolved Apes\u201d NFT rug pull scam<\/a>.<\/p>\n Evolved Apes was a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs that promised buyers a video game, which never materialized. A week after launch, the anonymous developer known as \u201cEvil Ape\u201d disappeared with 798 Ethereum (ETH) worth $2.7 million at the time. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:<\/p>\n The defendants ran a scam to drive up the price of digital artwork through false promises about developing a videogame. [\u2026] They allegedly took investor funds, never developed the game, and pocketed the proceeds. Digital art may be new, but old rules still apply: making false promises for money is illegal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In the crypto world<\/a>, this type of scam<\/a> is known as a \u201crug pull\u201d \u2014 developers raise funds, in most cases through token or NFT sales. After accumulating enough assets, they abruptly shut down the project and vanish with the money.<\/p>\n According to De.Fi\u2019s Rekt database<\/a>, over $79.7 billion has been lost to crypto bad actors since 2011. The largest rugpull listed is South African digital assets investment fund Africrypt, which disappeared with 69,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth nearly $4.8 billion in 2021.<\/p>\n The report follows a cryptocurrency trader recently losing $69 million in a sophisticated \u201caddress poisoning\u201d scam<\/a>. In this kind of scam, bad actors create fake accounts mimicking the victim\u2019s online crypto address and send small amounts, hoping the victim accidentally sends money to the fake address later.<\/p>\n Cryptocurrency-related scams, including \u201cpig butchering\u201d scams, are becoming increasingly prevalent and costly for investors. At the end of last year, United States authorities were\u00a0<\/span>able to recover about $500,000 worth<\/a> of assets lost to pig butchering scams<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In mid-March, Massachusetts prosecutors also took some steps to\u00a0<\/span>return $2.3 million worth of digital assets seized from fraudsters<\/a> to pig-butchering scam victims.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n
\u2018Rugpull\u2019 scams in crypto<\/strong><\/h2>\n