Brooklyn’s District Legal professional’s Workplace has dismantled 40 fraudulent NFT market web sites following a scheme that defrauded an 85-year-old artist of $135,000.
The sufferer was focused by a scammer posing as an artwork seller on LinkedIn, the DA’s workplace revealed on December 6. The scammer persuaded the artist to mint his work on a counterfeit NFT market designed to imitate the respected OpenSea platform.
Scammer Calls for $135,000 Payment
After falsely claiming that the artist had earned $300,000 in earnings, the scammer demanded a $135,000 “fee” to launch the funds.
To fulfill the demand, the artist liquidated his retirement financial savings, used bank cards, and took out a mortgage. He later realized the promised cost was a fabrication, leaving him financially devastated.
“Cryptocurrency scams can take many forms but have similar characteristics, such as preying on vulnerable victims and requesting fees to redeem purported earnings,” stated District Legal professional Eric Gonzalez. “These were the tactics used in this case, leading our investigators to a network of fraudulent websites that specifically scammed artists. It is my hope that by shutting these domains and raising awareness about this scheme, we will prevent others from falling victim to this scam.”
Investigators traced the stolen funds to accounts at a Nigerian change, the place they had been primarily transformed to native forex, making restoration practically not possible.
The pretend market web sites additionally originated from Nigeria, the DA’s workplace reported.
A few of these websites employed phishing techniques, urging customers to enter their crypto pockets seed phrases, granting scammers full entry to victims’ digital wallets.
Two further artists, based mostly in Georgia and California, had been additionally tricked by the identical fraudulent operation.
The DA’s Digital Foreign money Unit has warned artists to stay vigilant and conduct thorough analysis earlier than participating with NFT platforms.
“If it seems too good to be true, it likely is,” it stated. “Do your own research and seek opinions from fellow artists.”
Related instances embrace a refined hacking operation that allegedly stole $11 million in crypto and delicate knowledge from people and firms throughout a number of nations.
In keeping with courtroom filings, the alleged hackers focused no less than 29 people, with one sufferer dropping over $6.3 million in cryptocurrency after their e-mail and digital wallets had been compromised.
The publish Brooklyn DA Shuts Down 40 NFT Websites After 85-Year-Old Artist Loses $135K appeared first on Cryptonews.
