The Twitter account of non-fungible token (NFT) artist Mike Winkelmann, widely known as Beeple, was briefly hacked on Sunday and used to promote a phishing scam to drain over US$72,000 from Ether wallets of victims.
See related article: Twitter hacker takes over verified accounts to promote fake Azuki NFT drop
Fast facts
- The hacker shared a link to a website “raffle” for the artist’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton.
- Winkelmann had collaborated with Louis Vuitton on an NFT raffle for the luxury fashion brand’s mobile game “Louis: The Game” in April.
- Winkelmann headlined the mainstream push of NFTs in early 2021 with the US$69 million sale of his digital artwork Everydays: The First 5000 Days at Christie’s auction house.
- The Twitter accounts of public personalities and institutions, including the University of the Philippines, have fallen victim to series of hacks in recent months, mainly to promote phishing links that steal cryptocurrencies or NFTs from victims.
See related article: Beeple’s first physical artwork sells for $29M at auction