Phishing scam uses Beeple’s Twitter to steal $400k in crypto and NFTs
Famed digital artist Beeple saw his Twitter account hijacked last weekend with hackers using it to scam $400,000 in crypto and NFTs from the illustrator’s followers and fans.
The attack was discovered by a MetaMask security analyst when the artist apparently started promoting a raffle offering NFT artwork created in collaboration with luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton.
Sadly for unsuspecting entrants, once they clicked the link scammers drained their wallets one Ether at a time (worth roughly $2,000 at the time of the hack). The dodgy link managed to rake in a total of 36ETH, worth close to $74,000.
However, the perpetrators were just getting started. Barely an hour later they posted a second link which managed to haul in another $360,000 in crypto and NFTs, including much-sought-after Mutant Apes.
Read more: Hold on to your Apes! BAYC members watch out for these scams
Beeple, real name Michael Winkleman, eventually managed to regain control of his account and promptly warned his followers that “anything too good to be true IS A FUCKING SCAM!”
Beeple and his fans aren’t alone in getting phished
This Beeple hack is hardly the first crypto-related phishing scam. In fact, they’re becoming depressingly commonplace.
Perhaps the most high-profile example happened in January when artist Todd Kramer lost over $2.2 million worth of Bored Apes after he clicked on a malicious link touting a crypto giveaway.
The hack and Kramer’s attempts to recover his prized NFTs turned him into a crypto celebrity overnight and gave birth to the now-infamous “All My Apes Gone” meme.
A number of high-profile public figures have also found themselves conned out of valuable digital collectibles. Indeed, earlier this month, actor Seth Green lost four NFTs, worth over $200,000, to a phishing scam.
And even Bored Apes creators Yuga Labs weren’t safe. The company’s Instagram and Discord accounts were breached back in April resulting in millions of dollars in NFTs being stolen via a fraudulent mint link that raided users’ MetaMask wallets.
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