Prominent NFT collector ArcanicNFT has uncovered a grand scam by @Hopeexist1, a self-proclaimed pixel artist who also claimed they were battling cancer and raising funds for treatment by selling an art collection as NFT. However, it turned out that they neither had cancer nor did they own the NFT collection they claimed to be selling to fund the nonexistent cancer treatment.
Before the revelations, the scammer’s NFT collection sold out and was #1 trending on OpenSea, helping them cart away not less than 61 ETH worth of collectibles valued $117,434. @Hopeexist1 instantly deactivated their account as soon as news of the scam went viral, further proving the allegations.
How the scam got debunked
@Hopeexist1 was actually not handled by an 18-year-old girl, and it most definitely isn’t from someone who lost one of their eyes to cancer. In 2021, the same account tweeted a similar message, claiming their wife had cancer.
“My wife has dacryocyst cancer and I’m 200k in debt from it. I think my life has come to an end, hahaha,” the tweet read in part.
Unless @Hopeexist1 found a way to age backward, all accounts of their history with cancer were false stories to get people’s empathy and donations. This story may not be the first case of fraud in the NFT economy, but this one is particularly annoying.
Fraudster stole NFT art – community
As if their cancer stories weren’t repulsive enough, members of the NFT community on Twitter realized that the NFTs in @Hopeexist1’s collection are mostly stolen, despite the scammer claiming to be an NFT pixel artist who makes the art pieces to raise funds for their cancer treatment.
Twitter NFT accounts BILLY and GooeyCrunch pointed out instances of @Hopeexist1 directly ripping off NFT art from @Lancelotli2’s collection and selling it as their own. @Hopeexist1 did not respond to the allegations before deleting their account on the social media platform.
While this cancer charity scam is unfortunate, it also shows the empathy of the NFT community and the readiness of fraudsters to exploit it. The fact that the scammer raised $117k from a relatively unpopular scheme shows the concentration of good-natured people in the community, a heartwarming realization amid the unfortunate situation.
