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On-chain sleuth @zachxbt has brought to attention that American rapper Soulja Boy has been scamming people with his 16 NFT drops and 73 promotions on Twitter.
The rapper is said to have participated in multiple pump-and-dump schemes where he advertised projects and enticed his fans to invest in them just to quit them soon after, leaving his supporters with worthless investments.
Soulja Boy accused of Twitter, NFT scams
The rise of NFTs has brought with it an increase in numerous scams and fraudulent activities. Rapper Soulja Boy has joined the list of celebrities accused of fraud through promotions and NFT drops on Twitter.
One instance occurred during the promotion of RapDoge in July 2021 by Soulja Boy and fellow rappers Quavo and Lil Yachty. The same event was canceled in future, leaving investors with huge losses. Another scam was ParrotsDAO, which was rug-pulled a day after its announcement.
3/ EX 1: RapDoge
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 19, 2023
On July 19, 2021 Soulja Boy Tweeted out: “let’s pump $RAPDOGE to $.000001 and let’s get all our friends in on this are you with me lilyachty”
In the following hours the project rug pulled after receiving shills from Lil Yachty and Quavo as well. pic.twitter.com/VUAWaapTIV
Soulja Boy was also involved in a Flokinomics promotion that turned out to be a scam involving him advertising the Dogecoin knockoff he claimed to have been created by Elon Musk. He has also been sued for Safemoon promotions.
Other notable mentions were Orion and The Life Token, two schemes that manipulated prices by cancer and suicide prevention charities. These initiatives were unsuccessful and quickly abandoned, which goes on to prove their illegitimacy.
8/ Soulja Boy has dropped many different NFT collections. In 2021 alone I found 9 total collections created by him.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 19, 2023
One of them called SouljaBoyNFT advertised many forms of utility yet the website is offline. pic.twitter.com/sxczR1s77U
Soulja Boy also promoted NFT collections, some of which promised to deliver various utilities. Despite this, several of these collections today are inactive, and purchasers have yet to receive a refund for their investments.
Soulja Boy still in business despite claims
Despite earlier controversy and failure, the rapper has kept producing and promoting additional NFTs.
12/ It’s abundantly clear Soulja Boy will do anything to make money regardless of whether or not it hurts his fans. I suspect there are more examples than what I found.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 19, 2023
I believe he should be made an example of as legal action does not seem to deter his actions. pic.twitter.com/PD9bn5sanQ
It has also come to light that during the previous cryptocurrency bull run, Soulja Boy charged up to $12,000 for Instagram promotions and $10,000 for Twitter ads. Based on this calculation, he could have earned about $730,000 through multiple promotions and NFT collections.
This behavior has raised concerns that Soulja Boy is more interested in making money than the interests of his fans.