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- Hackers used a Louis Vuitton NFT phishing link to scam unsuspecting Beeple users, netting more than $70,000 in the process.
- A Top10VPN study shows a rising rate of NFT scams globally, with the North American continent experiencing the highest rate of NFT scams.
The rate of criminal activities in the NFT sector doesn’t show any sign of reducing soon. Despite increased efforts to capture these cybercriminals, many remain bold in continuing with their illegal actions.
The US secret service now has two subsidiaries – the National Crypto Enforcement Team (NCET) and the FBI crypto unit. The primary objective of this subsidiary is to tackle fraudulent activities in the US crypto space.
However, the unit seems to be less effective as crypto investors in the US continue to become victims of ransomware hacks, phishing scams, and rug pulls. The hackers were at it again this past weekend as they hacked several Beeple user accounts.
Beeple followers lose nearly $440K to scammers
On May 22, hackers succeeded in taking over the Twitter account of the popular NFT platform, Beeple. One of Metamask’s top security analysts, Harry Denley, broke the news of the attack via Twitter. He added that hackers use the Beeple Twitter account to post a phishing link to siphon user funds.
⚠️ Beeple's Twitter account has been compromised (ATO) to post a phishing website to steal funds.
0x7b69c4f2ACF77300025E49DbDbB65B068b2Fda7D
0xF305F6073CFa24f05FF15CA5b387DD91f871b983 pic.twitter.com/0MPNwOPlEu— {harry,whg}.eth 🦊💙 (@sniko_) May 22, 2022
Denley included details of the phishing scam – a Louis Vuitton NFT raffle. However, anyone who clicks on the link would lose all the cryptos in their wallets. Denley also stated that the hackers were also running a second phishing scam which was deadlier than the previous one.
Denley revealed that the hackers earned $50,000 worth of ETH in the first scam, and are already executing a more sophisticated scam with the hacked account. The popular online media outlet, Decrypt, claimed that its research shows that the hackers have earned more than $72,000 in ETH from their illegal activities.
A few hours after Denley’s first notification of the attack, Beeple revealed that it had regained control of its account.
Stay safe out there, anything too good to be true IS A FUCKING SCAM.
And as side note, there will never be a SURPRISE MINT I mention one time in one place starting at 6am Sunday morning. 🤦♂️
— beeple (@beeple) May 22, 2022
The rise in celebrities’ interest in Web3 has given hackers new ways to scam NFT enthusiasts.
NFT scams rise by 667% this year- Report
While many crypto-related scams usually take place on Twitter, scammers also target crypto enthusiasts on other social platforms. Instagram is a worthy mention. Cyberhackers have been targeting the NFT space this year as the popularity of this sector has soared this year more than last year.
A Top10VPN study revealed that financial losses in the NFT space this year are now 667 percent higher than last year, and the year isn’t over yet. The data added that nearly NFT traders had incurred nearly $52M in losses compared to the $7M they incurred last year.
It also states that the monthly average of cryptojacking for last year is 86 percent less than this year. Around 91 percent of the cryptojacking has occurred in the North American continent.
Another notable result from the study states a 95 percent increase in IoT malware this year compared to last year. Like cryptojacking, 151 percent of IoT malware globally have also occurred in the North American continent.
