美国对三名涉嫌 2021 年“进化猿”NFT 地毯拉骗局的个人提出指控

Evolved Apes 是 10,000 个独特的 NFT 的集合，它向买家承诺了一款视频游戏，但从未实现。

Three Individuals Charged in 2021 ‘Evolved Apes’ NFT Rug Pull Scam

三人因 2021 年“进化猿”NFT 地毯拉骗局被指控

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has charged three individuals in connection with the 2021 “Evolved Apes” NFT rug pull scam.

美国纽约南区检察官办公室对三名个人提出指控，指控他们涉嫌 2021 年“进化猿”NFT 地毯拉骗局。

Mohamed-Amin Atcha, Mohamed Rilaz Waleedh, and Daood Hassan were each charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. The charges stem from a scheme to defraud purchasers of Evolved Apes NFTs by promising a video game that was never created.

Mohamed-Amin Atcha、Mohamed Rilaz Waleedh 和 Daood Hassan 分别被指控一项电汇欺诈罪和一项洗钱罪。这些指控源于一项通过承诺一款从未创建的视频游戏来欺骗 Evolved Apes NFT 购买者的计划。

According to the indictment, Atcha, Waleedh, and Hassan created the Evolved Apes NFT collection in May 2021. The NFTs were sold out in 10 minutes, generating 798 Ethereum (ETH), which was valued at approximately $2.7 million at the time.

起诉书显示，Atcha、Waleedh 和 Hassan 于 2021 年 5 月创建了 Evolved Apes NFT 系列。这些 NFT 在 10 分钟内就被售空，产生了 798 个以太坊（ETH），当时价值约为 270 万美元。

However, a week after the launch, the anonymous developer known as “Evil Ape” disappeared with the funds. The indictment alleges that Atcha, Waleedh, and Hassan were involved in the rug pull scam and that they used the stolen ETH to purchase real estate and other assets.

然而，上线一周后，这位被称为“Evil Ape”的匿名开发商带着资金消失了。起诉书称，Atcha、Waleedh 和 Hassan 参与了拉地毯骗局，并使用被盗的 ETH 购买房地产和其他资产。

“The defendants ran a scam to drive up the price of digital artwork through false promises about developing a videogame,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “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.”

美国检察官达米安·威廉姆斯 (Damian Williams) 表示：“被告实施了诈骗，通过关于开发视频游戏的虚假承诺来抬高数字艺术品的价格。” “据称他们拿走了投资者的资金，从未开发过游戏，并将收益收入囊中。数字艺术可能是新事物，但旧规则仍然适用：为了金钱做出虚假承诺是违法的。”

If convicted, Atcha, Waleedh, and Hassan each face a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

如果罪名成立，Atcha、Waleedh 和 Hassan 每人将面临最高 40 年监禁。

Rug Pull Scams in Crypto

加密货币中的拉扯骗局

In the crypto world, this type of scam is known as a “rug pull.” 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.

在加密世界中，这种类型的骗局被称为“拉扯”。大多数情况下，开发商通过代币或 NFT 销售筹集资金。在积累了足够的资产后，他们突然关闭了项目，并带着钱消失了。

This is in contrast to a “pump and dump” scheme, where a group of bad actors artificially inflate the price of an asset through coordinated buying and shilling, and then sell their holdings at a higher price, leaving late buyers with the "bag" of overvalued assets.

这与“拉高抛售”计划形成鲜明对比，在“拉高抛售”计划中，一群不良行为者通过协调购买和先令，人为地抬高资产价格，然后以更高的价格出售其持有的资产，让后来的买家得到“袋子”。被高估的资产。

According to DeFi’s Rekt database, 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), which was worth nearly $4.8 billion at the time in 2021.

根据 DeFi 的 Rekt 数据库，自 2011 年以来，加密货币不良行为者已经损失了超过 797 亿美元。列出的最大拉动是南非数字资产投资基金 Africrypt，该基金带着 69,000 比特币 (BTC) 消失，当时价值近 48 亿美元2021年。

The report follows a cryptocurrency trader recently losing $69 million in a sophisticated “address poisoning” scam. In this kind of scam, bad actors create fake accounts that are nearly identical to the victim’s online crypto address and send small amounts, hoping the victim accidentally sends money to the fake address later.

该报告发布之前，一名加密货币交易员最近在一场复杂的“地址中毒”骗局中损失了 6900 万美元。在这种骗局中，不良行为者创建与受害者的在线加密地址几乎相同的虚假账户并发送少量资金，希望受害者稍后不小心将钱发送到该虚假地址。

Cryptocurrency-related scams, including “pig butchering” scams, are becoming increasingly prevalent and costly for investors. At the end of last year, United States authorities were able to recover about $500,000 worth of assets lost to pig butchering scams.

与加密货币相关的骗局，包括“杀猪”骗局，对于投资者来说变得越来越普遍且成本高昂。去年年底，美国当局追回因生猪屠宰骗局损失的价值约 50 万美元的资产。

In mid-March, Massachusetts prosecutors also took some steps to return $2.3 million worth of digital assets seized from fraudsters to pig-butchering scam victims.

3 月中旬，马萨诸塞州检察官还采取了一些措施，将从欺诈者手中扣押的价值 230 万美元的数字资产返还给屠宰生猪诈骗受害者。