The explosive growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Web3 has created a new frontier for digital art and collectibles and an emerging space for fraudulent activities. This study provides an in-depth analysis of NFT rug pulls, the fraudulent schemes that steal investors’ funds. From a curated dataset of 760 rug pulls across 10 NFT marketplaces, we examine these schemes’ structural and behavioral properties, identify the characteristics and motivations of rug pullers, and classify NFT projects into 20 groups based on creators’ association with their accounts. Our findings reveal that repeated rug pulls account for a significant proportion of the rise in NFT-related cryptocurrency crimes, with one NFT creator attempting 37 rug pulls within 3 months. Additionally, we identify the largest group of creators influencing the majority of rug pulls and demonstrate the connection between rug pullers of different NFT projects using the same wallets to store and move money. Our study contributes to understanding NFT market risks and provides insights for designing preventative strategies to mitigate future losses.

Web3 上不可替代代币 (NFT) 的爆炸式增长为数字艺术和收藏品开辟了新领域，并为欺诈活动创造了新空间。这项研究对 NFT rug pulls（窃取投资者资金的欺诈计划）进行了深入分析。从涵盖 10 个 NFT 市场的 760 个 rug pulls 的精选数据集中，我们检查了这些方案的结构和行为属性，确定了 rug pullers 的特征和动机，并根据创建者与其账户的关联将 NFT 项目分为 20 组。我们的研究结果表明，反复的拉客行为在与 NFT 相关的加密货币犯罪增加中占了很大比例，一名 NFT 创建者在 3 个月内尝试了 37 次拉客行为。此外，我们还确定了影响大多数 rug pull 的最大创作者群体，并展示了使用相同钱包存储和转移资金的不同 NFT 项目的 rug pullers 之间的联系。我们的研究有助于了解 NFT 市场风险，并为设计预防策略以减轻未来损失提供见解。