The Theft of ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ NFTs Worth $13.5 Million

Bored Ape Yacht Club

  • Immunefi’s report stated, around 150 Bored Ape Yacht Clubs NFTs were stolen.
  • The theft of these NFTs was done through a variety of scams and hacks.

The leading Web3 security firm, Immunefi, shared a report on August 30, 2022. The report included, since the launching of BAYC collection in June 2021, approximately 150 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs stolen. The worth of 143 stolen NFTs is nearly $13,582,962, which was caused by scams or hacks.

Major Hacks Led The Theft of BAYC NFTs

The two major hacks majorly affected the BAYC collection. First one was in April, when hackers posted a ‘phishing link’ to BAYC’s official instagram page. When the user clicks on that link it redirects them to a copy of the BAYC’s website and then drains ETH wallets of victims.

On the other hand, in June the hackers posted a phishing link that directs to Discord channels of BAYC and Otherside, which is an upcoming metaverse “game” developed by Yuga Labs.

The data is collected by scanning OpenSea for Bored Apes that are flagged for any suspicious activity. Also, through the social media for theft claims, which were then investigated by blockchain analysis. Immunefi tracked the suspicious activity since the foundation of the collection, later published the report in early August 2022.

As per the analysis by OpenSea, only nine BAYC NFTs delisted for suspicious activity that means the 134 Apes are still frozen or may no longer be traded on the platform. 

Over the stone asset transfer, Alejandro Munoz-McDonald said that, “These days, the marketplaces are not in control. People can still transfer stolen assets to another account and sell them on decentralised marketplaces where blacklisting features aren’t available.” He is a software engineer at Immunefi.

Furthermore, the Bored Ape also revealed about the suspicious activity on OpenSea’s platform. It showed that the platform sold around 194 ETH that was worth approx. $267,914 in Immunefi’s August’s early report.

Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/09/01/the-theft-of-bored-ape-yacht-club-nfts-worth-13-5-million/