Emoji Bait-and-Switch Raised $138,000 on Solana

Vishal Chawla, Mike Dalton

Sep. 30, 2021

An NFT project called "Iconics" sold emojis after promising 3D artwork.

Emoji Bait-and-Switch Raised $138,000 on Solana

Shutterstock photo by Mix Tape

Key Takeaways

A bait-and-switch scammer sold emoji NFTs on the Solana network after promising NFTs containing 3D art.
The project operated under the name "Iconics" and sold more than 2000 NFTs, valued at $138,000 in total.
The sale was promoted by members of the Solana community before the nature of the scam became clear.

An unknown actor has carried out a bait-and-switch scam on the Solana network involving NFTs and emojis.

Emojis Were Sold as NFTs

The scammer or scammers sold pre-existing emojis in place of original NFT artwork that was promised to investors.

The project was operated under the name Iconics. In its Discord server, it promised to deliver NFTs in the form of 3D art pieces supposedly created by an unknown 17-year old artist.

The project’s team opened NFTs for public sale at 0.5 SOL per unit. In total, 2000 NFTs were minted and sold, allowing the team to make off with 1000 SOL valued at $138,000.

Investors did not discover the NFT’s contents until after the sale. However, the name “Iconics” implies that the bait-and-switch involving emoticons was part of the plan from the start.

Prominent Figures Promoted Sale

Before the sale, the project was promoted by notable figures within the Solana community including Solbuckets and Solana NFT Radar, who called the NFTs “unique artwork.”

reminder to all frens –
@IconicsSol
✅8000 supply
✅0.5 $sol mint
✅high quality art

Tomorrow @ 10am EST
we like the art 🤝 pic.twitter.com/nyfEFVeiWn

— buckets | sandbar.io 🏝️ (@SOLbuckets) September 29, 2021

Today’s incident is not the first time an NFT scam has been executed on the Solana network. Last month, a project called Solana Astro Sols scammed buyers out of $6.4 million before disappearing.

With Solana’s growing popularity, hundreds of new NFTs and DeFi projects have been launched on the blockchain in recent months.

Its low fees and transaction times and a total value locked (TVL) of over $8 billion make the network an appealing target for fraudsters as well as legitimate developers.

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