Just days after scammers hacked Beeple’s Twitter account to carry out a crypto theft worth almost $450,000, a hacker has run away with 29 Moonbirds from a single wallet in the latest NFT scam.
The scam in question involved the hacker, which is alleged to be Twitter user ‘DVincent_’ (whose account is now deactivated), leveraging a phishing site to trick victims into approving them as operators of their wallets. In doing so, they lured-in NFT collector and Proof Collective member ‘Keith Digital Ornithologist’, where they then took-off with his 29 Moonbirds (worth a collective amount of 750 ETH/ $1.5 million), leaving the husband and father of three with a ‘life altering’ dilemma.
Given the unregulated nature of the NFT space, Keith and his Proof Collective compatriots took it upon themselves to contact the scammer via an message-engrained NFT. The NFT stated that if 28 Moonbirds were not returned by the end of May 25th, they will formally take the matter to the police and FBI. To appease the hacker, the demand’s allowed one Moonbird to be kept as ‘compensation’.
Despite such efforts, it appears that the hacker has ignored the requests, as Keith regretfully informed his Twitter followers that all 29 of his stolen assets have been listed on LooksRare.
As ever, such hack serves as another reminder to stay extremely vigilant when interacting with third-party platforms. Always double check the links you are clicking on, even if they are being promoted by verified accounts.
