Rug pull

A rug pull is a scam in which the creators of a crypto, NFT or gaming project collect money from buyers and then abruptly abandon the project and keep the funds. That follows the wording of the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which in a 24 March 2022 release described a rug pull as a project creator soliciting investments, then abruptly abandoning the project and fraudulently keeping the funds. In the Frosties NFT case announced that day, prosecutors alleged that two defendants abandoned the project within hours of selling out on or about 9 January 2022, shut its website and moved about $1.1 million in crypto.

Frosties had promised holders giveaways, early access to a metaverse game and mint passes, the same kind of rewards airdrop campaigns offer, and the defendants hid their legal identities from buyers. The charges were allegations, not findings. Revoke.cash lists rug pulls alongside phishing websites among common crypto scams. See airdrop scams.