This may not be the finest evidence but there are some truths in this, this is not yet about fake NFT stores or selling of fake NFTs, it is about illicit activities that people have used NFTs for. You can see this on this Chainanalysis report:
https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2022-crypto-crime-report-preview-nft-wash-trading-money-laundering/I have been trying to link some illicit activities with NFTs but only few I saw before like fake stores and selling of fake NFTs, but thanks to Chainanalysis this time but I do not like them so much because they run their own nodes and track addresses but this is helping this time and I appreciate this report.
Crime and NFTs: Chainalysis Detects Significant Wash Trading and Some Money Laundering In this Emerging Asset ClassWash tradingWash trading, meaning executing a transaction in which the seller is on both sides of the trade in order to paint a misleading picture of an asset’s value and liquidity, is another area of concern for NFTs.
NFT sellers will sell NFT to themselves for their NFT to gain awareness so that others buyers will buy the NFTs from them. Some did it and gained. Read the report to understand better and how Chainanalysis analysed how some addresses are linked as buyers and sellers to be one same person or same people operating together.
The sellers will be the buyer to create hype to sell to victims. Victims will fall for the hype or high price and buy the NFT.
Money launderingMoney laundering activity small but visible in NFTs
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FrlaOIuF.png&t=665&c=gGWL_O7KAUeQxQ)
Value sent to NFT marketplaces by illicit addresses jumped significantly in the third quarter of 2021, crossing $1 million worth of cryptocurrency. The figure grew again in the fourth quarter, topping out at just under $1.4 million. In both quarters, the vast majority of this activity came from scam-associated addresses sending funds to NFT marketplaces to make purchases. Both quarters also saw significant amounts of stolen funds sent to marketplaces as well. Perhaps most concerningly, in the fourth quarter, we saw roughly $284,000 worth of cryptocurrency sent to NFT marketplaces from addresses with sanctions risk. All of that was due to transfers from the P2P exchange Chatex, which was added to OFAC’s SDN list last year.
NFTs are getting clearer that it will breed more scam like DeFi. People can create NFT and sell it to themselves first at high price to find a victims and sell the NFT to the victim. See money laundering too.