NFT Influencer Loses A “Life-Changing” Amount Of Assets After Malware Attack

An NFT Influencer has reportedly lost a “life-changing” amount of assets. This happened after he clicked on a google ads link that delivered malware.

An NFT influencer loses a "life-changing" amount of assets after clicking on a Google Ads link delivering malware. https://t.co/JkVCIOCRLG

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) January 16, 2023

In a January 4 announcement, non-fungible tokens (NFT) influencer famously known as CryptoNovo revealed falling victim to a cyberattack that saw him lose two CryptoPunks NFTs. CryptoPunks are Ethereum-based NFTs created by Larva Labs in 2017 and feature among the earliest samples of crypto collectibles.

CryptoPunks NFTs have a fixed supply of 10,000 unique Punks with their individual proof of ownership stored on the Ethereum blockchain. Each item in the collection is a 24X24 pixel, 8-bit style portrait with a unique set of attributes and traits.

As of January 16, 2023, CryptoPunks NFTs sell for an average price of over $114,000 per piece. According to CryptoPunks statistics, there are 3,677 CryptoPunks owners, owning a total supply of 9,998 tokens. Over the last seven days, CryptoPunks NFTs were sold 44 times to record a total sales volume of $5 million.

CryptoNovo Just Got Hacked

In a Twitter post, CryptoNovo wrote, “I just got hacked!!! Are you kidding me!?!” and later attached a screenshot from OpenSea that showed two CryptoPunks being transferred to another address.

I just got hacked!!!

Are you kidding me!?! pic.twitter.com/r1xS0mhD6P

— CryptoNovo (@CryptoNovo311) January 4, 2023

After looting, the threat attacker sold the two CryptoPunks, one for 70 ETH and the other for 199 ETH.  At current rates, that is $108,290 and $307,853, respectively. The sales indicate the famous influencer lost over $416,000 worth of CryptoPunks in what has been reported as a hack.

According to the NFT trading marketplace OpenSea, the hacker transferred CryptoPunk #4608 to his own wallet before moving it to another wallet and then selling it for 199 ETH.

It happens that CryptoPunks were not the only NFT tokens taken from CryptoNovo. Reportedly, the influencer also lost Meebits, CloneX, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Nevertheless, his iconic green-beanie-wearing Punk #3706 was saved from the hack and has since been sold by the hacker himself.

Did CryptoNovo Plan The Hack?

The NFTs mentioned above went to a known phishing address. However, the attacker sent CryptoPunk #3706 to a completely different address selling for 75 ETH. This is approximately $116,025 at the time of writing.

Notably, this address has also received NFTs from Thenovoverse.eth.  Thenovoverse.eth is an ENS domain with a transactional history with CryptoNovo’s official wallet address.  With these facts, one would think that CryptoNovo, not a hacker, performed the sale of this item in particular.

Crypto Twitter Responds To The CryptoNovo Hacking Incident

At the news that the NFT influencer had been hacked, the crypto Twitter community responded with equal parts concern and mockery. Notably, CryptoNovo has more than 19,000 followers on the famous social media platform. Noteworthy also, this number of followers grew from 18K to the current 19.7K in less than two weeks. This is a difference of 1,700 followers inspired by the hacking incident. He is famous for wearing masks that present him as the green-beanie-wearing CryptoPunk he first bought in 2020.

Also, while the NFT influencer alleged that the incident was a “hack,” some of his followers differed, with a particular citing by Twitter user @_proper pointing out that a phishing incident more likely caused it.

Really sorry this happened and I hope you're able to get the pieces back. If it's any help, it looks like you may have a signed a txn granting an allowance to https://t.co/8Lpr10A3sz pic.twitter.com/pNMt5xrN0F

— proper (@__proper) January 4, 2023

Shortly after transferring the green-beanie CryptoPunk to a safe address, CryptoNovo authorized several token transfers to an unknown smart contract. According to Proper, the contract subsequently used the “transferFrom” function on different NFTs, moving them from CryptoNovo’s wallet.  This points to someone tricking the influencer into authorizing a malicious decentralized application (DApp) to move his tokens.

Nevertheless, Proper sympathized with the influencer. He said, “Really sorry this happened, and I hope you are able to get the pieces back.”

CryptoNovo Suffers Another Attack On Discord

Besides his experience losing NFTs and the associated developments on Twitter, CryptoNovo is also suffering another attack on Discord, where someone appears to be impersonating him.

The incident occurred nine hours following the NFT attack. CryptoNovo posted an image of a Discord account claiming to be him, but the influencer has since refuted saying, “It is a fake account.”

I have not asked anyone for anything. DO NOT send anything to anyone using my name and account number! The discord you see below is a fake account. A couple other CryptoPunks owners have scammers acting as them as well. pic.twitter.com/9YWcTLYAJd

— CryptoNovo (@CryptoNovo311) January 4, 2023

In the Twitter post, CryptoNovo insists he had not asked anyone for anything. He also urged his followers not to send anything to anyone that used his name or account number. He also noted that two other CryptoPunks owners had scammers pretending to be them. This points to an attack on the greater CryptoPunks community. However, no other cases have been reported so far.