Another NFT blockchain has been stolen by hackers.
A recent Engadget report mentioned that the Instagram account of Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs has been hacked and was used to steal millions of dollars in NFTs.
Yuga Labs is still investigating the incident and has warned followers not to click on links or mint new tokens involving Bored Ape NFTs.
Bored Ape Yacht Club Hack
According to Engadget's report, the hacker who compromised Yuga Labs' Instagram account used a phishing scheme on early Monday morning to steal $2.5 million in NFTs from the account's followers. Specifically, the hacker allegedly redirected members to a fake Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) website, per Gizmodo. Once there, the members are shown an advertisement regarding a fake airdrop.
An airdrop is a crypto marketing technique in which NFT companies will send out newly minted tokens for free to community members to cultivate engagement with certain projects.
From there, the hacker stated they are offering access to an upcoming BAYC project and that users should connect their MetaMask crypto wallets to the site, according to Motherboard. However, the site took users' digital assets out of their wallets and transferred them to the hacker wallet once users did as instructed.
A BAYC spokesperson said that the hacker took four Bored Apes, six Mutant Apes, three Bored Ape Kennel Club, and other NFTs estimated at a total value of $3 million.
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"We are actively working to establish contact with affected users," the spokesperson added.
In a statement to Motherboard, Yuga Labs said that its Instagram account had enabled two-factor authentication and that the security practices surrounding it were "tight." As such, it is investigating how the hacker managed to gain access to its Instagram account despite the numerous security features fitted to it.
Gizmodo had reached out to Instagram for comment on the online security breach of Yuga Labs' Instagram account, but the company has yet to respond to the publication's inquiries as of the publication of this article.
Yuga Labs posted a warning on Twitter telling followers who fell victim to the phishing scam not to engage with people reaching out to them regarding the incident.
"If you were affected by the hack or have information that might be helpful, reach out to ighack@yugalabs.io," Yuga Labs said. "You need to contact us first - anybody contacting you first is not us. We will NOT reach out to anyone over email first, and we will NEVER ask for your seed phrase."
What Is Bored Ape Yacht Club?
The Bored Ape Yacht club was launched by anonymous developers who go the pseudonyms Gargamel, Gordon Goner, Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and No Sass, per Crypto Potato. Their first NFT was sold on April 23, 2021, and was announced by Gordon Goner on the NFT's Discord channel.
What made the NFT appealing and trusted is that it has a detailed roadmap to follow from the start. It also has "a relatively strong" number of unique owners for an NFT community.
Eminem, Stephen Curry, Logan Paul, and Mark Cuban had purchased BAYC NFTS as well, along with other celebrities.
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