And it would be a waste of opportunity to not ask bill “Who You Gonna Call?” when crypto hackers attack. Rest assured, that won’t be the only Bill Murray based joke you read in this article. However, losing the jpeg image of a cartoon punk can be a devastating loss when it’s an expensive NFT. Thankfully, Mr. Murray managed to save his NFTs following the cyber-attack on his personal collection. Despite that, crypto hackers managed to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sadly, Bill Murray had raised the money during his NFT charity auction. And of course, there was an official police report on the matter but it was “Lost in Translation” (told you the jokes won’t stop).
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Crypto Hackers
A group of criminals targeted Bill Murray’s NFT charity auction and managed to steal 119.2 ETH. At the moment, this is worth around $185,000 that was raised for the charity. This attack took place during the auction and the charity lost the funds almost immediately. Furthermore, the crypto hackers made an attempt to steal non-fungible tokens from Murray’s personal wallet. According to Coindesk, the voice of Garfield holds two CryptoPunk NFTs. Just for reference, some CryptoPunks NFTs are worth more than a 4-bedroom house with over 2 acers lot in Austin!
Thankfully, Bill Murray knew who he was gonna call and his virtual wallet security team Venkman came in to help. The NFT consultancy firm successfully diffused the attacks on Murray’s personal wallet. As for the money for charity, the team was not able to recover the Ethereum.
In the meantime, Murray’s team stated that they have filed a police report and are following up with the issue. According to the team, they have partnered with crypto analytics company Chainalysis to identify the thief.
However, much like a lot of Murray’s movies, there is a happy ending to the story. Despite the loss, one Coinbase user donated $187,000 worth of ETH to the charity. Bill Murray was working with Chive Charities which is a non-profit that was raising funds.
NFT Heist
Fundamentally speaking, a vast majority of crypto scams stem from user error. That is not to say that digital wallets are absolutely secure. However, a massive number of offers, suggestions and messages can often confuse the user to make the wrong move. Word to the wise, everyone can be the target for a crypto scam and it is not just celebrities who lose their charity money. For that, we advise you to always dedicate the time to thoroughly review and asses the legitimacy of the emails, messages and the links you receive.
That being said, crypto hackers are most attracted to high profile individual who are certain to hold valuable items. Back in May, Seth Green lost four Bore Ape NFTs to a phishing scam. In general, a phishing scam occurs when thieves steal user data by tricking them with tainted links. And as we have mentioned before, the best way to protect your personal information is to not share it with anyone at all. If you are using OTC exchange platforms, make sure they do not require KYC. For that, HiExchange is one of the best exchangers you can find.
According to Solidus Labs CEO, Chen Arad, the high profile celebrities are not the only ones under attack. “Scammers do not discriminate and target anyone they think they can get money from, from celebrities to royalty to average people,” said Arad.
At the end of the day, many of us do not have the ability to have our own cyber security team. However, paying more attention to basic details and being cautious can go a long way to protect our funds. With that said, take a look at the Groundhog NFT jpeg as it is the last Bill Murray joke in this article.
