One YouTuber who strives to investigate online scams, Coffeezilla has disclosed an alleged plot by Squiggles non-fungible token (NFT) scammers who could possibly make up to $20 million in a fictitious project.
In a video that was published on February 16, 2022, Coffeezilla highlighted how these cybercriminals tried to use the Squiggles NFT project to defraud unsuspecting investors.
Interestingly, this project got lots of hype and is said to have attracted many shadow wallets that engaged in pumping its volume. Nonetheless, this project has since been delisted from the OpenSea NFT marketplace. Squiggles have since promised follow up with OpenSea.
While it was listed on OpenSea, Coffeezilla alleged that he found several fake wallets that were created by one person purchasing Squiggles translating into fake millions of dollars worth of fake volume. The acquired Squiggles were then flipped on OpenSea for lower amounts of money.
Purchasing Squiggles NFT Worth 800 ETH And Selling At Losses
For example, one account spent 800 ETH spread across two transactions, which resulted in hundreds of new wallets. Although the logic behind acquiring Squiggles and selling them at a loss is not clear, Coffeezilla confirmed that the aim was to give an illusion of massive interest to get people to acquire and then abandon the project.
This project started raising lots of suspicion moments before its launch after a dossier came up alleging that the founder of Squiggles is not the real founder. It alleged that the founder was working for a behind-the-scenes group that has executed many scams previously.
According to Finbold, the suspects have been identified as Gavin, Gabe, Ali, and a person who is thought to be a high school student. Notably, one of the accused people was acting as a puppet for the criminals released a video denying the allegations.
He stated:
“Some weird accusations, not sure where they come from or how I’m tied. Exactly. I have no bad intentions. I would never hurt anyone physically, financially, or mentally. It’s not in me. I’m all about my morals.”
Based on a statement by Coffeezilla, the founders of this project are leveraging verified Twitter accounts to manipulate the social media platforms to discredit the individual behind the dossier.
Notably, the users that enquired more about this dossier were speedily banned on the Squiggles Discord channel.
History Of NFT Scams
While striving to appear legitimate, these scammers released many NFT projects that appear unrelated. Interestingly, these projects are run by a racket that is connected to a firm known as the NFT Factory.
These criminals were said to have created hype by providing phony giveaways to close friends and relatives. The Squiggles team rented out a real office and hired real staff to cover all loose ends.
All these initiatives were directed towards marketing Squiggles as the criminals were saying that they consider the project a breakthrough. After the potential of Squiggles, the founders decided to celebrate their achievements mistakenly posted photos appearing alongside Gavin on Instagram.
In these photos, they held a sign indicating ‘Squiggle boys.’ Nevertheless, Gavin distanced himself from the photos saying that he was only hanging out with people who have a bad reputation. Coffeezilla also said that individuals who identified past scams linked to the suspect got phony lawsuits.
In that context, people supporting the project maintain that Squiggles is an authentic project with great intentions and they want to continue with their plans.
