Unknown persons hacked the Twitter account of artist Mike Winkelman, known under the pseudonym Beeple, to post phishing links.
Users were invited to a website allegedly dedicated to Beeple’s partnership with the Louis Vuitton fashion house.
A cybersecurity specialist under the nickname harry.eth from the MetaMask team noted that clicking on the link led to unauthorized withdrawal of funds from the user’s wallet. The attackers’ prey was 35 ETH (~$71,200).
Then the hackers changed tactics and published a new phishing link.
As a result, the attackers received another 100 ETH and 45 NFT. In total, users lost assets by ~$438,000.
Unknown persons retained control of the artist’s account for about five hours before he managed to get it back.
Recall that in March 2021, Beeple sold at Christie’s auction the work Everydays: The First 5000 Days from in the form of NFT for $60.3 million. Together with the fees, the buyer paid $69.3 million.
In May 2022, the artist announced the release of a joint NFT collection with pop star Madonna.