Beeple: Targeted attack takes $438K in crypto-assets and NFTs

The hacking and befooling of users in the digital world is no new idea. The recent hacking which clamored the global crypto industry is that of Beeple official Twitter handle. The account was hacked by unknown hackers who continued to post phishing links in Tweets, leading many followers from Twitter to the phishing links where they were scammed.   

Various scams have come into the limelight in the past few years, which cost millions to users. Some of these include the pegs of high-end blockchain systems where a complete drain took place; the Beanstalk hack is one of the most recent examples. Here is a brief overview of the Beeple scam and how it affected the users. The details are given as follows.

Beeple hack and its impacts

Mike Winkelmann has achieved fame for his classy NFTs and the huge profits he has made for them. Winkelmann recently joined hands with Louis Vuitton to make NFTs. It was recently that Winkelmann had made 30 luxury NFTs for Vuitton named ‘Louis the Game.’ These NFTs were designed to be part of the reward for the mobile game that the said company has launched. The winners will get these NFTs as a reward.  

Everything went smoothly till May 22, 2022, but the twist in the game took place when news regarding Beeple official account being hacked came to the fore. The hackers took benefit of the credibility of Beeple and began posting links to fake Beeple collections. The users were lured with free mint facilities, thus dragging them to the trap. The users were unsuspecting regarding scams because there was little chance of their Twitter accounts being hacked.  

The news regarding the scam came from Harry Denley, who serves as Security Analyst at MetaMask. He alerted the users that the links posted on Beeple official handle were links to a phishing scam and would affect the users’ crypto wallet. He confirmed that these links have nothing to do with Louis Vuitton.

Repercussions of Beeple hack

The alert from Harry Denley contained details of how the scammers are using the credibility of Beeple to steal users’ funds. The scammers intended to use Beeple and Louis Vuitton’s collaboration and capitalize it in their favor.

They took about the amount of $50K in the initial phase, while later, it reached $73K. They continued posting, and $365K was taken from users’ wallets. The scam took digital assets in the form of NFTs and ETH, tricking the users. The affected users include famous names like Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Otherdeeds, Veefriends, etc. According to the available details, the amount in total was $438K.

Ultimately, Beeple was able to take hold of his account with the help of Twitter support and experts. He also warned the users about the too flowery promises that prove a scam. Beeple is known as one of the most expensive NFTs creators, and one of these was sold for worth $69.3 million. The value and expensive NFTs have made Beeple a prime target for hacking attacks.

A similar hacking incident happened to Beeple official discord, where the hackers were able to trick 38 ETH. Experts have predicted a rise in the number of hacking attempts, as evident from the data available for previous months.

Conclusion

Famous NFTs creator and artist Mike Winkelmann’s (Beeple) Twitter account was hacked to lead followers to scam links. These phishing links swindled users of NFTs and ETH worth $438K. The artist was able to take hold of his account with the help of a Twitter technical team. The increasing number of attacks on famous NFTs creators and digital assets promoters might be alarming for their followers of the scam.