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Report: Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Discord Attacker May Be Involved In Previous NFT Phishing Scams

Report: Bored Ape Yacht Club Discord Attacker May Have Been Involved in Previous NFT Phishing Scams

On June 4, 2022, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) Discord server was compromised and a phishing scam targeted non-fungible token (NFT) collectors holding BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Otherside NFTs. An analysis by Certik and Blockchain Auditing and Security firm Certik revealed that the attacker of the BAYC Discord Server may have been involved with previous phishing attacks.

Blockchain Security Firm Certik Analyzes the BAYC Discord Phishing Attack

While many NFTs can be very costly, this makes it more attractive for malicious attackers. The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Discord server was hacked this week. An attacker used phishing to lure victims.

Certik, the Web3 and blockchain auditing and security firm, published an analysis of the attack and from the company’s account, the attacker may have been involved with previous phishing attempts. The attack occurred on Saturday and a total of 32 NFTs valued at roughly $360K were stolen from blue-chip NFT holders.

Report: Bored Ape Yacht Club Discord Attacker May Have Been Involved in Previous NFT Phishing Scams
“Our Discord servers were briefly exploited today,” the BAYC creators Yuga Labs wrote after the incident. The incident was quickly caught by the team. About 200 ETH worth of NFTs appear to have been impacted. We are still investigating but please email discord@yugalabs.io if you have been affected. As a reminder, we do not offer surprise mints or giveaways.”

The NFTs were stolen from the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the Bored Ape Kennel Club(BAKC), Mutant Ape Yacht Clubs (MAYC) and NFTs taken from the Otherdeed Collection. Certik’s report says the phishing site was a “carbon copy of the official projects website, yet with subtle differences.”

There weren’t any social media links and there was a tab titled “claim your land” that allowed victims to click on the fake phishing ads. The attacker then received a few NFTs, and proceeded with the sale.

The attackers managed to acquire 142 ether and Certik notes that it is likely 100 ETH was sent to the mixing application Tornado Cash. Certik summarizes the reasons why some evidence suggests that the hacker obtained a fraction of the ether and sent it to Tornado Cash.

“Whilst it’s impossible to be certain that the 99.5 ETH redeemed by 0x2917… are the funds associated with today’s attack, it is certainly probable that these are the stolen funds post mixer due to the 20.5 ETH being sent to the depositor address,” Certik’s report notes.

The Certik researcher’s analysis added:

The majority of the funds were sent to [Externally Owned Account (EOA)] 0x5bC1…, which is where they remain at the time of writing.

The blockchain security firm says that links indicate that 0x5bC1 is likely “not only associated with the BAYC phishing attack today, but also previous phishing attacks.” The company mentioned the fact that BAYC was targeted on April 25, 2022, when an attacker compromised the NFT collection’s Instagram account.

At that time, the hacker got away with 888 ether worth of non-fungible tokens by posting a scam link to a fake airdrop. Certik’s report states that users were asked to sign a “safeTransferFrom” transaction. Prior to the Instagram exploit at the end of April, on the first day of April, Mutant Ape Yacht Club #8,662 was stolen via a phishing scam posted to the Discord channel. Celebrity Seth Green was recently victim to a phishing scam and lost his Bored Ape #8 . Bored Ape #8,398 called “Fred” was supposed to play a role in Green’s new series called “White Horse Tavern.”

What do you think about the recent BAYC phishing scam? Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman, the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News, is a Florida-based financial journalist. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. Redman is passionate about Bitcoin, open-source codes, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Otherside trailer,

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. This article is not intended to be a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any products or services. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. The author and the company are not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from or in connection to the content, goods, or services discussed in this article.

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