Hackers posted phishing links via Twitter’s Beeple account pretending to be a “raffle” of Beeple’s Louis Vuitton collaboration.
It was a not-so-good Sunday for a non-fungible token (NFT) creator and digital artist Mike Winkelmann popular as Beeple. On waking up Beeple found that his Twitter account was hacked as part of the phishing scam which stole more than $70,000 in Ether (ETH) value.
Hack of Beeple’s Twitter Account
MetaMask’s security analyst Harry Denley alerted users first about the hack. He found that Beeple’s tweets contained a phishing link. In reality, this link, if clicked, would drain crypto from users’ wallets.
In his tweet, Danley shared the link to the dodgy website pretending to be a “raffle” of Beeple’s Louis Vuitton collaboration. Danley said that whenever people clicked on the link, the hackers drained one Ether (ETH) automatically from their wallets.
Digital artist Beeple had recently entered a collaboration with luxury brand Louis Vuitton. Earlier this month, Beeple designed 30 NFTs for the fashion brand’s “Louis The Game” mobile game. The scammer later posted phishing links from Beeple’s account leading to the fake Louis Vuitton collection.
Beeple’s Twitter account remained compromised for nearly five hours before getting the control back. He tweeted:
“Twitter was hacked but we have control now. Huge thanks to @garyvee‘s team for quick help!!!! 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”.
Continuing with Phishing Links
For five long hours, the scammers continued to post phishing links from Beeple’s Twitter account while luring unsuspecting users and promising them free mint for unique NFTs. The first link netted 36 ETH worth over $70,000.
The second link netted scammers with more than $365,000 worth of ETH and NFTs from high-value collections such as VeeFriends, Otherdeeds, and Mutant Ape Yacht Club. Thus, the grand total value stolen from the sam shot up to $438,000.
On-chain data further shows scammers selling these NFTs on OpenSea. Besides, they also moved their stolen ETH into a crypto mixer to launder the gains.
Digital artist Beeple is the creator of three of the ten most expensive NFTs sold to date. Last year, he sold his NFT featuring a digital collage of his creations for a massive $69.3 million.
Last November 2021, hackers targeted the admin account of Beeple’s Discord. They managed to steal over 38 ETH from user wallets.
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