Scammers Impersonate Tyler Hobbs to Promote Fake QQL NFT Mint
Fraudsters posing as artist Tyler Hobbs have launched a fraudulent QQL NFT mint scheme, resulting in financial losses for at least one victim.
Fraudsters posing as artist Tyler Hobbs have launched a fraudulent QQL NFT mint scheme, resulting in financial losses for at least one victim. Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $2,386.23, up 0.1% since this brief published. This is an original TLT brief synthesising 2 outlets (Blockonomi, Crypto.news), plus live market data, as of Tue, 20 Oct 2026 11:15:04 UTC.
This incident highlights the growing risk of impersonation scams in the NFT space, exploiting the reputation of prominent artists and potentially undermining trust in legitimate projects.
- Scammers impersonated Tyler Hobbs to promote a fake QQL NFT mint.
- At least one person lost funds to the fraudulent scheme.
- The scam reused details from QQL's 2022 auction, including 900 Mint Passes at 50 ETH.
- The incident underscores the need for increased vigilance and security measures in the NFT community.
Blockonomi and Crypto.news both report that scammers impersonated Tyler Hobbs to promote a fraudulent QQL NFT mint, with details including 900 Mint Passes starting at 50 ETH, mirroring the project's 2022 auction. They agree that at least one person lost funds, while another was protected by the Pocket Universe tool. However, Blockonomi provides more context about QQL's current minting status, noting that the project has not reopened public minting, whereas Crypto.news focuses more on the immediate impact of the scam.
Fraudsters have been impersonating generative artist Tyler Hobbs on social media platform X to promote a fake QQL NFT mint. The scheme has already resulted in financial losses for at least one victim, according to reports from Blockonomi and Crypto.news.
The fraudulent promotion reused specific details from QQL's 2022 auction, including the sale of 900 Mint Passes starting at 50 ETH. This tactic likely aimed to create a sense of legitimacy and urgency among potential victims.
Yuga Labs Vice President of Product, Patrick Escarcega, known as Quit, confirmed the incident on X, stating that one person had lost funds while another was protected by the Pocket Universe tool. This highlights the varying degrees of vulnerability among users who interacted with the scam.
QQL, a collaborative NFT project between Tyler Hobbs and Dandelion Wist, has not reopened public minting, according to Blockonomi. This suggests that the scammers were capitalizing on the project's previous success and reputation.
The total cryptocurrency market cap currently stands at $2.79 trillion, with 
Ethereum, the primary platform for NFTs, trading at $2,382.72, down 2.21% in the last 24 hours. The broader market is experiencing a downturn, with 
Bitcoin also seeing a 1.61% decline over the same period. The Fear & Greed Index is at 55, indicating a state of 'Greed' among investors.
Since this brief published about 2 hours ago, Ethereum (ETH) has moved from $2,382.72 to $2,386.23 — +0.15%.
The chart plots ETH's price: grey is the move before this brief published, the vertical dashed line marks the moment it published, the horizontal dashed line is the price then, and the coloured area is the move since — from TLT's market data (daily resolution). It shows what happened after the news, not that the news caused it; many factors move prices. Not financial advice.
At today's peer-to-peer rate, 1 ETH ≈ ₦3.26M (about $2,386.23), down 1.2% over 24 hours. The naira itself trades about 2.5% above the official rate on the P2P market, so a Nigerian buyer's effective cost differs from the headline dollar price.
Live market data
Current prices for the asset in this story — live, source-stamped, updated every 15 minutes.
Scammers Impersonate Tyler Hobbs to Promote Fake QQL NFT Min — questions & answers
How did the scammers impersonate Tyler Hobbs?
The scammers created fake social media accounts impersonating Tyler Hobbs to promote the fraudulent NFT mint.
What details did the scammers reuse from QQL's 2022 auction?
The scammers reused the 900 Mint Passes at 50 ETH from QQL's 2022 auction to make the fake mint appear legitimate.
How many people lost money to the scam?
At least one person lost funds, while another was protected by the Pocket Universe tool.
How much is 1 Ethereum worth in naira today?
About ₦3.26M at the live peer-to-peer (P2P) USDT rate, which is what Nigerians typically trade at — equivalent to roughly $2,386.23. The naira price moves with both ETH's US-dollar price and the USDT/NGN rate; use our Ethereum in naira page for any amount.
Has Ethereum's price moved since this brief was published?
ETH is up 0.15% since this brief first published — trading at $2,386.23 now versus $2,382.72 at publication. TLT re-checks this figure against CoinGecko and Binance every 15 minutes.
Which outlets reported this story?
This is an original TLT brief that synthesises reporting from Blockonomi, Crypto.news, with the key figures cross-checked for agreement across them. It is not a copy of any one article — follow the source links above for the original reporting.
Original summary — not financial advice. This is an original TLT brief that summarises a development reported elsewhere and adds live market data for context; it is not the original article and reproduces no part of it. Follow the source link above for full details. Crypto is volatile and high-risk — always do your own research.