The Craziest NFT Rug Pull - Here's How Lana Rhoades Stole $1.5M Just Because She Was Sad

The Craziest NFT Rug Pull – Here’s How Lana Rhoades Stole $1.5M Just Because She Was Sad

Updated: 05 June 2023

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Hacks and scams have become a significant threat to the crypto industry, and non-fungible tokens are no exception. Even as security measures improve in the future, people with ill motives will still find other sophisticated ways to lure and trap investors through different forms of scams.

It’s worth noting that there are various forms of scams, including the popular phishing scam. But today, we will focus on another rapidly spreading form of scam called rug pull. We are looking at one of the craziest rug pull scams in the history of crypto and non-fungible tokens involving a sad NFT influencer.

What Is Rug Pull Scam In NFTs?

By description, a rug pull is a scam where a crypto or NFT developer hypes a project to attract investor money, only to suddenly shut down or disappear, taking investor assets with them. The name comes from the idiom “to pull the rug out” from under someone, leaving the victim off-balance and scrambling. Lana Rhoades was a perfect example.

Earlier last year, Lana Rhoades, a renowned porn actress, and crypto investor, started a non-fungible token project featuring cartoon artworks of herself. The 26-year-old now porn actress and influencer sold the project to prospective investors as a “valuable investment,” never as a sale of digital artwork.

The NFT collection dubbed “Cryptosis” featured a fixed set of 6,069 NFTs minted for 0.1 ETH. The NFT projects featured future utilities, including future NFT drops, metaverse wearables, and personalized messages from Lana.

Lana Rhoades, who had more than 16.8 million followers on the social media site Instagram, promised to “increase the value of her Cryptosis NFT project and make it a lucrative investment for holders that they can sell for more than they paid to mint.” The NFT project raised more than $1.5 million.

Lana Rhoades Stole $1.5M Just Because She Was Sad

Unfortunately, one day after the mint, Lana Rhoades swept all the funds from the treasury. She kept saying the project was a long-term project and “not a pump and dump,” blaming the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Later, Rhoades explained that she rug pulled her project because she was upset by some collectors.