NFT Scams: Fake Art, Fake Volume, Real Losses

Rounding out Part IV of How Not to Get Scammed by AI Trading Apps, Felix Bick’s Chapter 37 tackles the distinctive fraud patterns that have emerged specifically within NFT markets.

Bick identifies several distinct forms this fraud has taken: fake or plagiarized collections that copy legitimate artwork without permission, “rug pull” NFT projects that collect mint funds before abandoning promised roadmap features like games, metaverse integration, or staking rewards, and outright phishing schemes disguised as NFT minting links that instead drain a connected wallet.

The chapter’s discussion of wash trading is particularly valuable: a form of self-dealing where a project’s own wallets buy and sell an NFT among themselves to fabricate an inflated trading volume and price history. This has been a persistent problem in NFT markets, creating a false impression of demand and value that can lure genuine buyers into overpaying for something with fabricated popularity.

Bick offers concrete protective practices: verifying an NFT project’s social media accounts and website against known official links, since fake, near-identical scam sites are common; never connecting a wallet or approving a transaction from an unsolicited link; and reviewing a collection’s actual trading history for signs of wash trading before purchasing based on apparent popularity.

This chapter demonstrates the book’s range — NFT-specific fraud has distinct mechanics from token rug pulls or trading bot scams, yet Bick applies the same rigorous, mechanism-first approach throughout, giving readers consistent tools for evaluating a genuinely different category of digital asset risk.

For anyone active in NFT markets, this chapter of How Not to Get Scammed by AI Trading Apps offers Felix Bick’s specific, practical guidance for navigating a space where apparent popularity can be entirely manufactured.