Beeple informed his followers in the morning through a tweet that his account was hacked and he lost around $438,000 worth of Ethereum.
The hacker used Beeple’s Twitter account to distribute phishing links to bogus NFT collections with the promise of a free mint for unique NFTs if the user followed the instructions.
ugh we’ll that was fun way to wake up. 😫
Twitter was hacked but we have control now. Huge thanks to @garyvee ‘a team for quick help!!!! 🙏🙏🙏
— beeple (@beeple) May 22, 2022
Beeple who is know for the NFT collage he created called Everyday: The first 5000 Days has also asked his followers to stay safe. He also jokingly said that he will never mention a surprise mint at 6 am on Sunday morning.
According to initial reports, 36 ETH worth $72,000 had been taken. When PeckShield Alert uncovered the fraud, it found that 199 ETH had actually been laundered using Tornado Cash mixing.
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
Scams like this have become fairly common these days in the crypto market. There is a boom in cryptos and NFTs, which is attracting new investors without any knowledge of the risks the market poses.
With NFTs gaining popularity, ensuring investors’ safety has become increasingly essential. With Instagram’s announcement of an NFT platform and accepting those from other platforms, it will become the potential target for these fraudsters to target novice investors.
