Several Discord servers, including that of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, were recently compromised. Scammers appear to have swindled NFTs worth around 200 Ethereum — and one creator of the popular BAYC collection isn’t happy.
NFTs Worth 200 ETH Stolen In Phishing Attack
Phishing hackers keep scamming NFT collectors and Bored Ape Yacht Club members appear to be some of their major targets.
According to on-chain analyst OKHotshot, the hack was perpetrated by first compromising the Discord account of Boris Vagner, the Yuga Labs community manager. The hackers then used this unfettered access to share phishing links on the official BAYC, Otherside, and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) channels. In total, 200 ETH was stolen (equivalent to $363,000 at press time).
Yuga Labs, the company behind the $4 billion Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection, said it was actively investigating the attack. But one BAYC creator, Gordon Goner, criticized Discord for the lack of adequate security. “Discord isn’t working for web3 communities. We need a better platform that puts security first,” Goner tweeted.
Others, however, believe BAYC discord users are to blame for the incident.
“Don’t blame Discord for users getting socially engineered, having DMs open, and clicking phishing links. Use the tool correctly first before blaming it,” OKHotshot quipped.
High-Prized Bored Apes The Target Of Multiple Exploits
Unfortunately, Saturday’s exploit is only the latest in a string of similar phishing attacks to have hit the NFT community.
Notably, hackers have specifically targeted Bored Ape Yacht Club holders due to the high value of the NFTs. On April 25, for instance, a malicious actor hijacked BAYC’s official Instagram account and shared fraudulent links that enticed followers into sending over $2.7 million worth of NFTs.
Weeks prior to that, Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Discord channel was hacked, resulting in the attackers making off with NFTs from BAYC as well as an array of other collections.
Non-fungible tokens, in general, have kindled a digital art renaissance. As they become more popular, opportunists are increasingly uncovering ways to benefit at the NFT community’s expense. Users must stay alert to avoid falling prey to these attacks.