Two fraudsters have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering through a non-fungible token (NFT) fraud scheme.
The fraudsters – named Mr Nguyen and Mr Llacuna – took part in a million-dollar scheme to defraud purchases of NFTS advertised as ‘Frosties’.
Instead of providing the benefits advertised to Frosties NFT purchasers, the two defendants transferred the cryptocurrency proceeds of the scheme to various cryptocurrency wallets that were under their control.
Prior to their arrest, Nguyen and Llacuna were preparing to launch the sale of a second set of NFTs advertised as ‘Embers’ which were predicted to generate around $1.5m in cryptocurrency proceeds.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “NFTs have been around for several years, but recently mainstream interest has skyrocketed. Where there is money to be made, fraudsters will look for ways to steal it. As we allege, Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Llacuna promised investors the benefits of the Frosties NFTs, but when it sold out, they pulled the rug out from under the victims, almost immediately shutting down the website and transferring the money. Our job as prosecutors and law enforcement is to protect investors from swindlers looking for a payday.”
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