🐀 Fake Banksy Skem

Pest Supply was able to make 512 ETH off of this ingenious scheme. Because Bansky is known for doing secretive projects, people jump on board.  Pest Supply started selling on Feb. 14 but became super active on Feb. 19, selling most of the pieces. The account eventually got banned on OpenSea, and all of the transaction histories have been wiped. 

The NFT used the same stencil art style, and the pieces have some political undertones Banksy is known for. The works brought much hype, and one was bought by 0xb1 for 34 ETH.

Why would people buy this?

The first reason is Banksy is known for secretive projects. For example, he once sold original pieces for $60 in Central Park. Secondly, "Pest Control'' is a non-for-profit company run by Banksy that acts as an authenticator for his artwork. Although it’s unlikely in this case, Pest Control is known for denying ongoing works by Banksy. Besides these points, some were able to quickly point out how it was most likely a scam and not a true Banksy work, including us.

Why might these pieces be fake? 

Max Osiris emailed Pest Control trying to get the authentication of the NFT. Pest Control denied any affiliation in any shape or form with the supposed Banksy account. This might be the nail in the coffin for some, but Pest Control is known for denying ongoing works by Banksy.

The most apparent clue that these are fake Banksy's comes from Pest Supply's Rarible bio. It says, "Blocked by decentralized OpenSea as they have no idea who Elaine Sturtevant is and know nothing about art history." For those who don't know art history, Elaine Sturtevant is an American painter known for making replicas of other artists' work. So, Pet Supply is hinting they're trying to be Elaine Sturtevant by making replicas of Banksy.

A great thread to look at is one made by ETHBULL. Here they explain how Pest Supply's address has been selling other NFTs before creating the Banksy look-alikes.

@nassredean so this dude is impersonating #banksy on opensea and racked up 450k+ in a day by selling NFTS thread:

What has come of this?

Pransky jumped on the train and minted his own Banksy look-alike NFTs. This joke has the very thoughtful name "Pest Demands" and is currently sold at 0.25 ETH. 

Also, Pest Demands has donated 23.2 ETH to Save The Children. The donation was funded by the piece "Save The Children Red Edition." So that's definitely a good thing to come out of it. The guy was able to make over $1 million in this scheme and also made a donation to charity...