It was discovered after some investigative work by fellow NFT buyers and developers.
The first project to be called into question was an NFT profile picture (pfp) project called Fame Lady Squad. The project claimed to be a set of “8888 beautifully drawn females with different traits such as tattoos, clothes, hairstyles, earrings, etc. were created, as it seems, with one purpose: to invite more women to the crypto and NFT sphere.”
The project launched in July and quickly caught fire, gaining notoriety from big names like Garyvee, who even mentioned the project in a New York Times article.
But the project was called into question by Fedor Linnik and Haley after they noticed suspicious details in the project, which included the similar appearance of multiple other projects like Cyber City Girls Club and Unicorn GG Club.
Click the threads to read the full amount of evidence they both have.
This is the @queenship_ scam proof thread:
— Haley (@dearesthaley) August 10, 2021
TLDR: They are claiming to be 3 black women but they are actually Russian men.
This effects @FameLadySquad also. They're all the same project devs. 1/
One of the craziest pieces of evidence to come out is the accusation that the same devs make multiple projects. There’s evidence of multiple projects partnering and shilling each other, giving the impression that the same dev team just makes them.
At first, the team denied all accusations saying they were false and created out of jealousy. But, after public pressure, one of the developers came forward and apologized for posing as a woman in order to sell the NFT project and his involvement in other projects. The dev Max Rand tweeted out, “Guys, I confess. I am the dev of the projects. Sorry for the lie; I was too afraid to say this because of a lot of threats on my side, my stupidity, and not understanding US market culture rules.”
In his apology, Max also stated that he, John Russo, D Mefi, and UnicornGGClub would donate $100,000 for new NFT projects and strengthen the NFT community. The team also turned over the Fame Lady Squad contract to the Project Phoenix team, an NFT group lead by women created to keep the Fame Lady Squad project alive.
