A scheme worth millions: Durov personally promotes a fraudulent auction with Khabib’s "gifts"

Pavel Durov launched a Telegram auction of “gifts” from Khabib Nurmagomedov — digital NFT squares that users can pin to their profiles. Despite having no real value, these items were sold for enormous sums, according to blogger Oleg Artyomyev.

The starting bid was 2,910 stars (about $45), yet the first lot sold for $30,000. Durov personally participated in the auction and drove up the prices, indicating his direct involvement in promoting the scheme. Additionally, a promotional banner for the auction appeared in Telegram search results, highlighting the official backing of the project.

As a result, the sale of these digital “gifts” generated 293 million stars — around 347 million rubles, or nearly $4 million. Essentially, the money went directly to the Telegram ecosystem, benefiting Durov and his platform.

In essence, users were paying for “paper toys” — NFTs with no practical value. People effectively spent tens of thousands of dollars on a simple digital square in their profiles. This is why the scheme raises questions: who is willing to pay such amounts, and why is Durov actively promoting a mechanism that appears to be outright fraud?