A Goblin Town collector was reportedly lured into a scam that saw the victim lose 10 NFTs in a single attack. The victim was duped on Twitter via a phishing link scam.
A Twitter user with the handle @topshotkief sent a public plea to LooksRare and OpenSea – two of the best marketplaces in the industry. The victim claimed he had been conned to the tune of 10 NFTs. The user claimed he followed a link supposedly driving interested collectors to an airdrop of Goblin Town NFTs.
Sadly, the link turned out to lead to a phishing site. The cheapest Goblin Town NFT traded for about 6 ETH, at press time. While the most expensive NFT from this collection was sold for 11.3 ETH (about $20,000), per data from NFT aggregator CryptoSlam.
So far, none of the platforms has responded to the collector’s plea for help. Some of the responses to his post offered support and encouragement, while others advised the @topshotkief to consult a recovery firm and utilise a hardware wallet for storage, going forward.
I just clicked a fake goblin claim. 2 MAYC and 8 cool cats were stolen. Please someone help me. I’m devasted.
— topshotkief.eth (@topshotkief) June 4, 2022
The Goblin Town NFTs have become quite popular following their creation in May 2022. The collections were minted for free on the Ethereum blockchain. They quickly rose to a floor price of 0.5 ETH, before their price jumped 500% to 2.5 ETH.
Thereafter, the collection, which features artworks depicting grotesque creatures, flipped the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection to become the market’s top collection after seeing over $8 million in daily trades. With enough hype surrounding the collection and the victim’s seemingly lengthy track record of holding NFs, it’s easy to see how they could fall for this trick.
As @topshokief explained, he lost a total of 10 NFTs to the scam – including eight Cool Cats and two Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFTs.
Interestingly, the hackers might have conned more than one victim. Replying to the Twitter thread, a separate user – named @CryptoRobK – confirmed that he had also recently lost a Bored Ape to the hackers.
Yes it was. That was mine. Tried to alert OS in every way possible for 5 hours before it finally sold. No response.
— Rob (@CryptoRobK) June 4, 2022
He discovered that the NFT had been moved to a separate wallet after hours of trying to get help from his marketplace’s support.
The incident over the weekend underscores what seems to be a broader need for improved security across the NFT space.
Just a day after the Twitter thread was released, OKHotshot – a crypto and blockchain detective – alerted the community that the Discord groups for the BAYC and Otherside NFT collections had been hacked. This came days after a similar breach of BAYC’s Instagram account.
According to a tweet, OKHoshot explained that the hackers managed to break into the account of Boris Wagner – the Community Manager for both Discord groups. From there, they were able to share phishing links to the Discord groups, catching easy prey in the process. About 145 ETH (about $261,000) was stolen from community members.
BAYC & OtherSide discords got compromised‼️
Seems because Community Manager @BorisVagner got his account breached, which let the scammers execute their phishing attack. Over 145E in was stolen
Proper permissions could prevent this pic.twitter.com/lCl2DfZQ0W
— OKHotshot (@NFTherder) June 4, 2022
While platforms continue to bolster their efforts and security infrastructure, it is important for NFT holders to take security seriously. Furthermore, investors should be wary of any NFT airdrop or giveaway platforms. There are some rare exceptions though. For investors who buy Lucky Block NFTs, the tokens qualify them for the daily prize draw – where winners are chosen in an open and transparent manner.
The NFT market has grown significantly over the past year, and there’s a high probability that anyone who offers free NFTs wants something in return.
Also, users should refrain from sharing their seed phrases or private keys with strangers – regardless of what they might get in return. No credible platform requires your private keys before they reward you with airdrops.
Next NFT to Blow Up – Lucky Block
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This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jimmy Aki.
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Jimmy has been following the development of blockchain for several years, and he is optimistic about its potential to democratize the financial system.… View full profile ›
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