Actor Seth Green had plans to make his Bored Ape NFT, Fred Simian, the star of a new TV show. Then, a hacker stole his NFT as a part of a multimillion dollar scam, causing him to halt the production of the show and ultimately pay ransom for the hacker to return the stolen asset.
Green fell victim to a phishing scam by accidentally connecting his crypto wallet to a malicious website, which allowed the hacker to transfer four of his NFTs.
“The remote aspect of the current situation forces people to use more websites, e-commerce and trust in the services they interact with. Attackers are intimately aware of this,” said Nick Donarski, founder and CTO of blockchain solutions company, Ore System, via email.
The NFT market surpassed $40 billion in value in 2021, so it’s probably not a surprise that cybercriminals are crafting NFT scams. Built In has identified eight different types of NFT scams to look out for and tips for how to avoid them.
Types of NFT Scams
- Rug pull Scams
- Phishing
- Airdrop/giveaway scams
- Impersonation/catfishing
- Pump and dump scams
- Counterfeit/plagiarized NFTs
- Bidding scams
- Investor scams
Ways to Avoid NFT Scams
Keep Your Logins Private
Never share your crypto wallet information with anyone. If a hacker learns your seed phrase or private key, they can access your wallet and remove NFTs or cryptocurrency. Consider using a password manager to help securely store your credentials and generate unique passwords.
