QUADRIGA INITIATIVE
CRYPTO WATCHDOG & FRAUD RECOVERY PLATFORM
A COMMUNITY-BASED, NOT-FOR-PROFIT
$2 700 000 USD
OCTOBER 2021
GLOBAL
EVOLVED APES
DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS

"Welcome to evolved apes, the place where we pay homage to our long lost brainless relatives. Ten thousand brain dead neanderthals have spawned on the face of planet earth. All in one place, watch as the chaos unfolds. In this uncontrolled wasteland, you have two choices fight or die. Those brave enough to enter this kingdom, these are your requirements."
"Equality does not exist in this kingdom, you will be judged on what you possess. That is why we have created a rarity system to help differentiate between which apes will be destined for the win. There are 100 total traits in the kingdom and these have been associated as either common, uncommon, rare or super rare. Depending on how unique your trait is the more power you will possess in the kingdom."
"Evolved Apes is described on NFT marketplace OpenSea as “a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs trapped inside a lawless land.” They are “fighting for survival, only the strongest ape will prevail,” it says."
"Do I own the Evolved Ape after purchasing? Yes, full intellectual properties are given to the buyer."
"The science team at EvolvedApe will be working on helping these brain dead Neanderthals develop basic functions. A serum will be airdropped to all holders of the project, allowing them to take their ape to the next phase of evolution. Will it work, that’s the question that’s been bothering everyone at the Ape labs…."
"Indeed, “Evolved Apes” had been one of the hyped NFT mints recently, with the 10,000-strong collection reportedly selling out in 10 minutes and the floor price rising steadily following the swift sale." "In addition to the cards, the developer, known to the community under the pseudonym Evil Ape, has promised to release a blockchain fighting game about the opposition of these creatures, “abandoned in lawless land”."
"However, the project’s storefront on OpenSea shows a tanked floor price of 0.005 ETH, significantly lower than the original minting cost. The decline in the floor price is no doubt linked to the current rug pull scandal rocking the project."
"Some investors have pointed out the misalignments with the project, stating that they were suspicious after investors noticed unprofessional announcements after the public sale on September 24."
"Going by the moniker “Evil Ape,” the developer has allegedly lived up to the name by vanishing with 798 Ether (ETH) worth over $2.7 million from the project’s coffers." "Evolved Apes, a collection of 10,000 Ape NFTs anonymous developers known as Evil Ape disappeared with NFTs worth 798 ETH."
"Just a week after the Evolved Ape is launched, the anonymous developer behind the project has seemingly disappeared and gone dark on social." "The official website and Twitter handles of Evolved Apes were deleted." "Apart from allegedly siphoning all the project’s money, Evil Ape also took down the “Evolved Apes’” Twitter account and website."
"Investors who participated in the Evolved Apes social media competition had not yet received their NFT prizes and took to the community’s Discord chat to ask questions. One investor, Mike_Cryptobull, spent over $10,000 USD on now a worthless digital drawing. In a report he wrote to others affected by the cut-and-run incident, he said, “What has happened is that Evil Ape has washed his hands of the project taking away the wallet with all the ETH from minting that was to be used for everything, from paying the artist, paying out cash giveaways, paying for marketing, paying for rarity tools, developing the game and everything else in between.”
"The artist behind the actual drawings was in fact not paid, despite hundreds of sales of over $50,000 USD were made. Each of the Apes also netted 4% in royalties. OpenSea has yet to respond and there is no word on the Evolved Apes creator." "Investors appointed Mike_Cryptobull as the head of this “mission” to understand what was going on."
"The result of his work was a PDF file in which he presented all the facts collected about the project, informing the rest of the sad news that Evil Ape, who is the head of the Evolved Apes, is most likely a scammer and controls the wallet with all the money collected as part of the project."
"Naturally, investors are left quite upset – despite the fact that the legality of this ‘theft’ is actually unclear. Why? Well, because those who invested did actually receive what they paid for – an NFT. The Evolved Apes NFT was eventually supposed to be usable in a fighting game. Rather than creating that, Evil Ape decided to bounce with the money. This rug pull is far from the first of its kind – but it is quite a notable one."
"But investors decided not to despair and continue to develop the idea of Evolved Apes, calling it Fight Back Apes. Thus, the people who were promised to create a fighting game nevertheless became participants in the fight, but not with virtual monkeys, but with a very real scammer under the nickname Evil Ape."
"Some members of the NFT project are attempting to continue the development of the game, while efforts are underway to apprehend the alleged culprit." "Some members of the community have come together to continue the development of the project under the umbrella of “Fight Back Apes.”"
"The entities behind the new faction say they wish to create a more community-centric operating model for the project, including a multisig wallet, to prevent the repeat of another Evil Ape debacle." "With Evil Ape still receiving the 4% royalties on secondary sales, the current plan is to create a new project that will airdrop new NFTs to current holders."
The Evolved Apes NFTs were overseen by an anonymous individual, who didn't even pay the artist who made them. In addition to the NFTs, the development of a game was promised. After collecting the funds from various individuals around the world, they simply disappeared. The community has vowed to rebuild the project as Fight Back Apes. Progress continues.
HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN PREVENTED?
The funds were stored in the hands of an anonymous developer. Funds should be held in a multi-sig wallet by known and trusted entities who can be held to account.
https://blog.insurace.io/security-incidents-in-october-cfed829449d0 (Dec 16)
Evolved Ape (Dec 29)
‘Evolved Apes’ NFT creator allegedly absconds with $2.7 million (Dec 29)
@FightbackApes Twitter (Dec 29)
https://opensea.io/collection/evolved-apes-inc (Dec 29)
"Evolved Apes" NFT Investors Scammed for Millions | HYPEBEAST (Dec 29)
@The_DailyNFT Twitter (Dec 29)
@mattthr Twitter (Dec 29)
@fashionkilla_op Twitter (Dec 29)
@GucciBananasNFT Twitter (Dec 29)
The creator of the NFT Evolved Apes collection stole over $2.7 million from investors - CoinShark (Dec 29)
7 new techniques for NFT theft. This is how they stole millions of Evolved Apes NFT (Dec 29)
Explained: The Evolved Apes Rug Pull (September 2021) - halborn (Dec 29)
'Evolved Apes' NFT Developer Disappears Along with $2.7 Million in Ether of Funds | Tech Times (Dec 29)
NFT Gaming Project EVOLVED APES Earn ETH Rewards, Win Ethereum in this Versus Fighting Game! - YouTube (Dec 29)
https://mobile.twitter.com/FightbackApes/status/1461514823347458048 (Dec 29)
Evolved Apes (NFT Rugpull) Comes Back with Fight Back Apes! - YouTube (Dec 29)
NFT Project ‘Evolved Apes' Developer Disappears with USD 2.9M (Dec 1)
