IconicsSOL NFT Emojis Rug Pull

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Iconics SOL NFTs

Iconics, an NFT project on Solana, is accused of conducting a "rug pull" scam, where investors are defrauded as the creators disappear with the funds. The project, supposedly delivering 8,000 NFTs featuring randomized 3D artworks, sold 2,000 presale NFTs at 0.5 SOL each. However, investors received an NFT with random emojis instead of the promised artwork. The 17-year-old artist reportedly behind Iconics collected around $140,000 before vanishing. The Discord channel and Twitter account were deleted, leaving frustrated buyers to share their experiences on social media. Multiple Solana NFT projects offered free NFTs to the victims after the scam was exposed.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About IconicsSOL

"I do my best to talk to teams as much as I can before I post about them. They seemed genuine, account had been growing a following organically. Artwork was unique." "Chat on Twitter. Talked to him twice, he wasn't pushy getting me to post about them & thanked me for RTing their giveaway."

"They had been in discords for a month building a good story."

"Goodmorning Iconic community We want to announce mint day Mint-9/30 10am est Price- 0.5 Sol Website will be posted in discord Also will be one last giveaway to discord members 1️ Follow & retweet 2️ Tag 2 friends 3️ Follow discord Winner will be picked Wednesday"

"As part of a pre-sale, 2,000 Iconic NFTs were launched on September 30, at 0.5 SOL apiece. The collection was quickly bought by NFT enthusiasts who had early access to the sale."

"A user called ‘FreeCartel’ noted that the creators of the project were a father and son duo and that “ICONICS had all of the right signs of a good project“, further compounding the frustration felt by the community."

"From my personal experience, there was one person to contact, and said individual was always very distant/aloof."

"no website and the announcement before the mint “guys we’re gonna put more rares for you”"

"A red flag for me was the number of unique "mints" in such a short time with no team just a "father and son". I'm a 3d artist and I know how long modeling takes not including rendering."

"one of my red flags in locking chat...that always sets me back for some reason"

"Only that they mentioned in the discord they recommended turning auto approve on so you could mint up to 5 at once. sad thing is, I’d still be dumb enough to fall for this at least 45/100 times, and I think even then I’m giving myself too much credit"

"I got scammed on that too, but i have to say i saw many red flags. - Not posting any site - Asking user to enable "auto-approve" as a HUGE one Unfortunately the hype caught me..."

"FreeCartel also listed a number of points that indicated the project was possible a scam, including using an “on.fleek” domain to mint the NFTs, no community management and the use of auto-approved transactions.

To add insult to injury, the creators had also said they reveal their identities after the minting process in a Discord faq."

"[U]sers submitted 0.5 SOL over a period of three minutes before the website refreshed with a sold out message. The NFT mint website launched by IconicsSOL was mini-guys[.]on[.]fleek[.]co, suggesting that IconicsSol was actually a rebrand of the Mini Guys NFT."

"Iconics had promised to produce 8,000 NFTs in the form of randomised 3D artworks of busts with a range of attributes. The project was due to launch on September 30, with 2,000 NFTs available for 0.5 SOL to those who had early access via a presale."

"The 2,000 presale NFTs sold out quickly, and users waited eagerly for the reveal to see what they minted. Instead, minters who got early access through the presale received an NFT featuring 20 random emojis and quickly took to Twitter to express their frustration at apparently being duped."

"Iconics, an NFT project on Solana, has been accused of a “rugpull” and scamming people. In the crypto world, a rugpull occurs when someone defrauds investors by not delivering a project and then absconds with all the money. Reportedly, the 17-year-old artist behind Iconics raked in around $140,000 before disappearing."

"Iconics was supposed to deliver 8,000 NFTs featuring randomized 3D artworks. However, after the mint on September 30, investors received a random collection of emojis instead of the artwork. Following the Iconics NFT rugpull scam, many buyers took to Twitter to share their ordeal."

"A 17-year old was able to pull off a $138,000 rug pull when he got buyers to purchase 8,000 NFTs focused on “quality art.” The art promised was supposed to be 3D renders of figurines, but when buyers were delivered their pieces, they got emojis instead. Once the NFTs were delivered, the Discord was shut down, and the Twitter account was deleted."

"My cousins and I got scammed this week by Iconic and BallerApeClub. I barely have any faith anymore in NFT projects, since I just started in this community. I hope there will be a donation project for everyone who got scammed. Let's do this as a community."

"The project developers also deleted Iconics’ Twitter account and disabled the Discord channel chat. Additionally, there have been no updates on the channel since the pre-sale."

"@SOLBigBrain was first to break news of the scam on Twitter, announcing that the scammers may have collected over 1,000 SOL by minting as many as 2,000 NFTs — worth approximately $156,000 USD at the time of this publication. Shortly after the IconicsSOL scam was uncovered, as many as ten different Solana NFT projects offered to provide free NFTs to victims of the rug pull."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - IconicsSOL NFT Emojis Rug Pull

Date	Event	Description
September 27th, 2021 8:16:29 AM MDT	Mint Date Announced	The IconicsSOL Twitter account announces the mint dat is picked. This tweet includes a video with various iconics art samples.
September 27th, 2021 8:30:00 AM MDT	Solana NFT Radar	Solana NFT Radar announces the NFT giveaway after chatting to the creator twice on Twitter. "An upcoming project with really unique artwork!"
September 30th, 2021 8:00:00 AM MDT	NFT Drop Scheduled	The scheduled time of the NFT drop on Solana.
September 30th, 2021 8:24:00 AM MDT	Solana NFT Radar	Solana NFT Radar issues an apology on Twitter for promoting the rug pull.
October 2nd, 2021 12:43:40 PM MDT	Yahoo Finance News Report	An article on the situation from Coin Rivet is published via Yahoo Finance.
October 3rd, 2021 9:08:12 AM MDT	NFTEvening Report	NFTEvening reports on the situation.

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $138,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.