Porn star Lana Rhoades allegedly made off with $1.5 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) in an apparent scam involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She claims that she is not to blame for the theft, the community had become too “negative and rude” toward her.
YouTube investigator Coffeezilla revealed details about the so-called ‘rug pull’ in a video on Feb. 22. According to the crypto sleuth, Rhoades created an NFT project called “Cryptosis” last month, featuring cartoon images of herself.
Another Influencer Scam?
The 25-year-old porn actress and influencer sold the project to prospective investors as a “valuable investment”, never as a sale of digital artwork. Promising to “increase the value of Cryptosis, and make it a lucrative investment for holders that they can sell for more than they paid to mint.”
At the time, Rhoades told her 16.8 million followers on social media site Instagram of how she was “feeling like super woman these days…at only two weeks postpartum I have lost 35lbs…launched an NFT collection.”
Rhoades’ NFT project included plans to award investors with various incentives if sales reached a certain level. These included pieces of digital land in Decentraland and Sandbox. She added that the brand and value of her project would continue to grow, after other models had since “signed to design their own lines”.
Rhoades disappears with $1.5 million in ETH
One week later, Rhoades disappeared from Cryptosis’ Discord channel, taking with her about $1.5 million in ethereum, or 509 ETH, according to Etherscan. An estimated 6,000 people got “rugged,” Coffeezilla alleged in his video, citing conversations from the project’s social media sites.
Posting to the channel, one user claimed that he spent $4,000 on a Christmas Lana NFT and was now stuck with it, unable to sell. Lamenting, the user said:
“I spent what I cannot lose. Man, I am left with $2,000 only. No job and have a two-year old son. If only someone bought my Christmas Lana.”
Rhoades’ reply to the cry was most belligerent. “Your diapers are too expensive,” she retorted.
Later, people that appeared to represent Rhoades and Cryptosis told investors that “Lana is not interested in continuing [with the project], mainly because she felt part of her Discord community was cruel and did not want to look at the comments.”
A rug pull is a type of scam in which creators quickly cash out their investor funds, launching what appears to be a legitimate crypto project.
Attacks of this kind have become widespread. YouTube and Twitch personality ‘Ice Poseidon’ recently admitted to stealing $500,000 from investors because he wanted “to look out for himself”. Now, adult entertainers have decided to move in on the “rug pull” game.
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