Definition of pump and dump

The term is frequently being used to describe a bad NFT project or small cryptocurrency that an influencer shills to dump on his or her followers after holding a big chunk of the supply from the start. 

In traditional finance it is also a well known term. In a pump and dump scheme, fraudsters circulate false or misleading information to generate a purchasing frenzy, “pumping” up the price of a stock, and then “dumping” shares of the stock by selling their own shares at the inflated price. Source 

Pump and Dump used in a sentence

‘’I bought this cryptocurrency because i’m a fan of this celebrity, however the celebrity no longer supports the project and I lost my money in this Pump and Dump!’’

‘’It is always the newbies that fall for pumps and dumps. If you happened to have experienced an PND yourself, you will probably recognize one a mile away!’’

History/information/research of Pump and Dump

Pump and dumps have occurred since the dawn of time. Before crypto, it was a well known scamming tactic in traditional finance. One of the first well known Pump and Dump schemes is done by Stratton Oakmont, a penny-stock brokerage. They fraudulently raised the price of owned stock in the early 1990s by making false and misleading positive remarks in order to sell the stock for a greater price. Jordan Belfort, a co-founder of the firm, was sentenced to prison for his part in the fraud.

If you want to know how to identify a scam check out this article, which give some indicators: