Quote Originally Posted by StouterTaru View Post
That's literally what's being done with Ape NFTs.
  • The pump: A group of scammers (or one scammer with sock puppets) plays hot potato with a bunch of Ape pictures they created, selling to each other, increasing the prices to make it look like they're in demand and you'd be a sucker not to buy.
  • The dump: A mark buys an Ape picture, and the game of hot potato ends.

Alternative:
  • The pump: "OMG my Ape NFTs were stolen, they're worth millions." "I just paid a ransom of $500,000 for my Apes, luckily I can afford it and they're worth ten times that."
  • The dump: Some sucker believes you and buys an Ape

Pump and dump doesn't require direct interaction between the buyer and seller.
A pump and dump doesn't require direct interaction, this is true. It does require false/misleading information to be given to the buyer in order to facilitate the pump. That is the key to the pump and dump.

An actual example of a pump and dump would be if a scammer created a company and inflated their numbers and worked behind the scenes to make their company look better than it was and then dumped out of the company and took off with the profits.

Your example would be quite difficult to do with NFT's because I can see who created them and where they have been transferred to on chain. Now a person could go through the effort of creating sockpuppet accounts but so what? I as the buyer have to decide if the NFT is worth the asking price. If I decide that it is I then have to decide If I want to sell it or not. There is always an understanding that you can loose money on the sale of a good. I purchased and Ape NFT an received an Ape NFT. It is interesting that people think that risk is a scam. It is not. It is a built in part of any market and it's up to a buyer to asses the risk of purchase if their goal is to flip it for profit at a later date.

As to your alternative scenario:
This is up to the buyer to do their due diligence. Did they check the purchase history? Did they asses the value for themselves? Personal responsibility is a thing in any market. There will always be people trying to scam you in any market and you must always do your due diligence to avoid it.