#nftscams

[nesttech]

“All My Apes Gone”: Protect Yourself From NFT Scams

Every month, NEST®, the first blockchain digital identity solution of its kind, discusses what’s hot and #trending in the NFT world with the latest NFT news roundups.Investors lose millions on OpenSea phishing scamOn December 30th 2021, Chelsea art gallery owner Todd Kramer lost 8 NFTs from his Bored Ape Yacht Collection (BAYC) and 7 NFTs from his Mutant Ape Yacht (MAYC) collection. For the uninitiated, Bored Ape is a collection of 10,000 ape-themed NFTs that were based on a vision of millionaires congregating at an exclusive club to discuss business and make memes. After celebrities like Jimmy Fallon and Snoop Dogg bought NFTs from these collections, their floor prices reached more than $300,000. Kramer’s collection of 15 apes was valued at an astounding 615 ETH ($2.2 million), and according to a Twitter user, he had lost it due to a phishing scam. After the attack, Kramer tweeted “all my apes gone,” hoping to get help from #OpenSea and the online NFT community. But the community was uncharitable and mocked him for not storing his JPEGs in an offline wallet. Many users also quote-tweeted him with popular jokes and parodies, and “all my apes gone” became an internet catchphrase. However, not all hope was lost as other buyers in the crypto community traced the buyers of the pilfered apes and helped Kramer get some of them back.Open Sea also came forward and froze the sale of the stolen NFTs on their platform. In a statement, one of Open Sea’s representatives said they take theft seriously and will not allow stolen items to be bought or sold on their platforms. They also added that the platform is prioritizing on building security tools so they can maintain their site’s integrity and empower users. Also read: NFT video games, art, and overall self-relianceThe backlash against centralized interventionUsers pointed out that the intervention was a centralized response which was against self-sovereignty and immutability, the key tenets of blockchain technology. Self- sovereignty gives individuals control over their digital identities and guarantees the authenticity of the transaction by establishing trust between the parties in a transaction. Immutability, on the other hand, makes the distributed ledger tamper-proof. So, the users contended that the transaction was valid and fair, and the rightful owner of the NFTs is the one who holds them after the transaction is complete.Therefore, according to them, Open Sea’s intervention was “unnecessary” as Kramer no longer owned his stolen NFTs. The backlash continued but Kramer took to Twitter to thank community members who helped him recover some of his apes. NFT scams are sadly too commonThis isn’t the first time an NFT scam of this scale has occurred. In other news, January was the worst month for NFT scams. - 54 NFTs worth $13.7 million were stolen after the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Instagram and Discord were hacked. Hackers posted fraudulent links claiming that users could mint land on the upcoming OthersideMeta. The attackers redirected users to a copycat of the Bored Ape website and launched a safe TransferForm attack which asked users to connect their MetaMask to their wallet so they could participate in a fake AirDrop. However, Yuga Labs alerted their users quickly and attempted to reach out to the affected users to recover their assets.- Blockverse NFT was a play-to-earn game built on the Minecraft universe. Investors could purchase playable characters on Open Sea and the creators even launched an exclusive cryptocurrency called $Diamond for the project. But whoever’s behind the game took the $1.2 million invested in the project and took off after deleting its website, Discord, and Twitter.- 9,041 people were collectively scammed off $1.2 million by the Big Daddy Ape Club creators. The scammers persuaded people to try and mint NFTs for 1 Solana ($135.) Although the transactions always failed, the crypto would go through. According to SolRarity, the scammers have already pulled this stunt at least thrice based on the wallets where the money was funneled.- Mercenary launched a medieval-themed NFT game with play-to-earn capabilities. The company bought ads on Twitter and reputed crypto news sites like BSC to get the attention of people and gain their trust. But it was a bluff and the game’s creators made off with at least $760,000, according to Peck Shield, a company which tracks crypto fraud in the community.- If you like Pirate games, then we’d definitely not recommend #Crypto Bay VIP. The game had an authentic-looking website that promised a lot of fun pirate-themed games, but as it turns out this was another scam. Whoever was behind the game made off with $1,098 WBNB on January 26th ($411,000,) according to Peck Shield.- The Frosties NFT project promised that they would build a Metaverse in addition to minting NFTs. But unfortunately, the project turned out to be a scam and investors lost $150,000 on it.- Doodled Dragons NFT was all set to donate money to The World Wildlife Foundation, but the founders changed their mind and pocketed at least $30,000 in cash from the scam.- Attackers made off with at least 35 NFTs worth at least $900,000 in a widespread phishing attack. They hacked high-profile Twitter accounts to promote links to a URL impersonating the recently launched ApeCoin tokens. - A similar incident occurred with Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou who also reported that he lost a Bored Ape to a phishing scam. Open Sea records show that the hacker transferred the item to another NFT platform called Looks Rare, where it was sold for over 155 ETH ($500,000.)Does this mean that scams have been happening more recently because the Bored Ape collection is an easy target for hackers?Not at all. Even before “all my apes gone” became popular, Calvin Becerra, an NFT collector, lost 3 apes worth $1 million to a phishing scam on Discord on October 31st, 2021. He complained that the attackers took everything from him after posing as buyers and pretending to troubleshoot problems. Unsurprisingly, online commentators weren’t sympathetic and slammed Becerra on Twitter for his carelessness.So, how to protect your NFTs?Incidents like these are only the tip of the iceberg, and although the NFT space shows great promise for the future, it’s teeming with scams and thefts in the present. This is scary because the promise of a decentralized, independent system with no central authority also brings the challenges of ownership and authenticity with it. In other words, “code is not law,” and you’ve got no way of proving that you own your digital assets. This is because the NFT space is still unregulated, and the current Web 3.0 #ecosystem has no way to protect your digital wallets and assets from being hacked. This is where NEST® comes in. It’s the world’s first truly #decentralized Web 3 identity authentication app which allows you to prove that you own your #NFTs. Our application’s patented self-sovereign distributed identity (SSDID) marks every purchase, exchange, and transaction with an individual #encryption key. This creates traceability and provides proof of ownership in the NFT space like physical documents would in the real world. So, even if all your apes are gone, the ownership details can be traced back to you.When it comes to warding off phishing attacks and scams, NEST® adds additional steps for authenticating a transaction so hackers can’t fake your signature and execute a smart contract. It also provides a device-side storage that’s safe from hackers and can only be accessed with your encrypted private key file. So, if you’re ready to join the #Web3 revolution with next-gen digital assets management, sign up for our waitlist here, or follow NEST® on #Twitter, Telegram and Medium.

[projectcubicle1]

How to Avoid NFT Scams and Being a Fraud Victim?

How to Avoid NFT Scams and Being a Fraud Victim?

Nobody likes to find themselves in a situation where they discover they have been duped and must take legal action. However, sadly, the number of cryptocurrency and NFT scams appears to be increasing at the same time as the industry is expanding. The sophistication of fraudsters in their attempts to find new methods to scam people grows with each innovation, whether through system hacking, phishing, or identity theft in the NFT marketplace. When you acquire an NFT that is tied to a picture, you are not purchasing ownership of the image itself; you will not be able to reproduce or exploit it commercially after you have purchased the NFT. As opposed to this, you are acquiring ownership of a record of your purchase on the blockchain. You may then sell that record of purchase connected with that photograph to anybody else. The value proposition in this case is a little difficult to comprehend. Some believe that NFTs are a good method to support digital artists by establishing scarcity and allowing consumers to "possess" a one-of-a-kind digital file in NFT marketplace. Several issues have to be resolved in the system, ranging from the resource costs associated with blockchain transactions to an abundance of frauds and hustles that have already become commonplace in the cryptocurrency world.

So, why did the NFT scam become a trend in the NFT marketplace?

For starters, deception is quite simple to perpetrate. Anyone can copy and sell someone else's photograph by uploading it as NFT. Fraud renders your NFT worthless, and there is little hope of recovering your money. Original artists and their families can request that their work be deleted, particularly if it is copyrighted, by going through a bureaucratic procedure that involves filling out a Digital Millennium Copyright request form and waiting. What is the true issue? Cryptocurrency wallets are notoriously anonymous. As a result, dealing with fraud on NFT marketplaces becomes more difficult, even though the sellers' accounts can be quickly examined and inspected thanks to blockchain technology. Platforms such as OpenSea and DeviantArt are increasingly checking for (NFT) infringements.

What steps can you take to avoid living an NFT scam?

In tandem with the advancement of technology, the sophistication of scams is rising. Begin by taking the below NFT fraud measures into account. 1.      Remember to be on the lookout for phishing: bots on a variety of platforms, including Discord, are requesting users to confirm their account details. If they gain access to your digital wallet keys, they will be able to drain all of the cryptocurrency stored in your digital wallet. Instead, always go straight to the verified websites for any cryptocurrency or NFT transactions, and avoid clicking on any links that show up or entering your information into emails. 2.      Be careful of catfishing: Remember when your parents advised you not to talk to strangers? This contains celebrities who endorse a non-profit organization. Catfishing, on the other hand, refers to the creation of fictitious profiles to obtain information. How can you tell if someone is doing an NFT scam? Check out their profile to have a better understanding of them. They will not give a link to their NFT collection/portfolio, and/or the collection/portfolio will not be hosted on a well-known server. With bougie profile photographs including dope clothes, the profile will likewise appear to be too good to be true. You may be approached by someone who says, "I want to be your first buyer." They may also decide to follow you... and a million other friends of yours, with no one responding to your follow request. As an alternative, they may attempt to entice you with the quantity of cryptocurrency they have available. They'll also try to get as many positive evaluations as they can on an NFT. 3.      Pump and dump: Financial influencers are susceptible to the same kind of fraud as we are.  This is the process through which the price of an NFT or cryptocurrency is artificially boosted to enhance the amount of trade. Once the price has increased (been pumped), fraudsters sell the shares at a higher-than-usual price (dumped). Take, for example, Dogecoin. To avoid this, look into the history of the project you're considering investing in to learn more about it. 4.      Crypto swaps at auction: When you put your cryptocurrency up for auction, this is the most common scenario. When you resell your NFT, a bidder will change the coin that was used to make the purchase. Instead of receiving one Bitcoin, you might obtain X-coin (a completely useless cryptocurrency developed by our developer) if you accept the offer without first validating the payment method. 5.      Counterfeit NFT scams Make sure you're buying from verified accounts if you're concerned about counterfeit or plagiarized NFTs. A little amount of digital stalking and due diligence by finding the artist on Twitter, other social media channels, and their websites is worth its weight in gold – as is a little bit of due diligence by finding the artist on Twitter, other social media channels, and their websites. Check to see if the artist's profile matches the user profile from which you are purchasing. Is there another account with a similar name that has a significantly higher number of followers? If this is the case, the page with the higher number is most likely the authentic one. 6.      Disable your Discord DMs: Discord hackers are one of the most frequent NFT schemes out there, and you should avoid them at all costs. They occur when hackers obtain access to a Discord server's administration console and upload a bogus minting link in the announcements channel. The communication will generally appear to be coming from a project organizer and will offer a bargain that appears to be too good to be true. It will say something along the lines of "Due to high demand, we're releasing 1,000 more NFTs." As a result of their capacity to build demand, hackers will frequently purposely seek out collections. After a collection has sold out, most companies will not perform a surprising mint of extra NFTs," says the author. In addition, we should mention that most projects will place all official links in a separate, designated channel and will not allow minting to occur through "sketchy looking URLs" - rather, it will only occur on the project's central website. When skimming through any NFT marketplace, keep in mind to: - Fact-check your information. - Aovid Pop-ups. - Make certain that you the profiles have complete image. - Keep your information coming from reputable sources. Always keep in mind that social media isn't your sole source of financial motivation. If you are dubious of the brand or any members of the brand that are reaching out to you, it is better to just avoid them until you have the opportunity to conduct your research and verify who you are talking with on a personal level. Read the full article

[nftically]

Learn How to Avoid getting your NFT Collection Stolen!

Hence, the near times represent the uncertainty in the air, yet the long-term certainty. This is to the ones who see the rewards over the risks. Likewise, the near times also reveal NFT scams, thefts and security issues we need to avoid. NFT scams cannot be avoided, but you can make sure you’re safe.

[nftically]

Here’s How to Avoid NFT Scams

NFTs will grow in leaps and bounds over this decade. So capitalize on your interest in NFTs and become a part of a booming market! But, beware of NFT scams too. We explain why.