Renowned NFT artist Mike Winkelmann, popularly known as “Beeple”, has issued a warning message on Twitter that his Discord servers, normally used by NFT collectors to discuss and trade digital art, had been compromised. Hackers redirected Beeple’s Discord server links to a fake website. Upon learning about the incident, Beeple stepped in to warn his fans that the sensitive information of those that had fallen victim to the copycat website, including private wallet keys, may have been exposed.
Beeple’s Discord URL ‘hijacked,’ directing users to wallet drainer https://t.co/XXWE8UbcDZ
— ₿ona D€a (@BonaDeaCrypto) October 4, 2022
Phishing Attacks on the Rise Once Again
Such phishing schemes as the one employed in the fraudulent attempt to steal crypto wallet information from NFT enthusiasts have been a particular trend among hackers so far in 2022. In such events, the copycat site acts as if it were the NFT minting page or marketplace users had expected to navigate to, and requests that potential victims connect their wallets. Once the unsuspecting user activates their Ethereum (ETH) wallet smart contract, any NFTs or crypto held therein can be drained in seconds.
Beeple experienced a previous accident on May 22nd, 2022, when his Twitter account was hacked. The digital artist alluded to numerous attempts by fraudsters to carry out a “surprise mint”, even though Beeple himself has repeatedly informed investors that there would be no “surprise mints”. Evaluating the situation, Beeple advised fans: “Stay safe out there, anything too good to be true IS A F*****G SCAM.”
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
Beeple Says There’s No Place to Hide
The digital artist, who raised $69 million back in 2021 with the sale of ‘Everydays: The First 5,000 Days’, NFT, has made quite a name for himself in the world of digital art. Everydays is a collage that depicts Beeple’s artistic journey across 13 years, leading him to top every single NFT sales chart in March, 2021.
The sale went under the hammer at Christie’s Auction House in New York, and was sold along with a physical painting. ‘Block 21′ is a bi-dimensional art piece from the ‘Portraits of a Mind’ digital art collection. The 40-piece collection was designed in dedication to the original Bitcoin (BTC) code.
After those heady days, the NFT artist unexpectedly dropped his new art piece titled ‘There’s Nowhere To Hide‘. The digital work features a massive penguin and a pack of rats.
NO PLACE TO HIDE pic.twitter.com/aFTl0thYBL
— beeple (@beeple) October 4, 2022
On the Flipside
- Despite being popular among crypto communities, Discord has become somewhat of a scape goat for the industry’s issues.
- Beeple sarcastically thanked Discord “for being garbage”.
- The artist joined a lengthy list of players in the crypto world bashing Discord, with BAYC Co-Founder Gordon Goner describing Discord as simply “not suitable for Web 3.0”.
Why You Should Care
Phishing attacks have been the most popular scam method so far in 2022. Hackers usually replace legitimate links with almost identical looking clones, thereby luring victims into connecting their wallets.
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