The University of the Philippines recently reported that NFT scammers hacked its official Twitter account. The motives are believed to take away the digital assets of its followers. The hacking incident was reported to have occurred a day ago, that is, on April 25, 2022.
Hackers had renamed the Twitter account Takashi Murakami, a contemporary artist behind the creation of Murakami Flowers. They sought to promote free NFTs from his collection on merely a payment of a gas fee.
People were quick enough to note the messaging and avoid the hacked call. Official data is currently unavailable about how many people got scammed.
The University took note of the hacking attack to raise concern. Minutes later, all the tweets published by NFT scammers were taken down. Based on the information available, it is estimated that NFT scammers may have failed in their attempt to steal digital assets from the people.
Irrespective of how many people got scammed in this incident, it is worth noting that hacking a Twitter account with many followers has become a usual norm. Hackers usually publish a tweet, or a series of tweets, offering too good to be true promotions to people.
Advertisement
In the case of the University of the Philippines, the hack was related to Murakami Flowers, an NFT collection with a floor of 6.6 ETH.
Another example of a similar attack is the Bored Ape Yacht Club. This community witnessed the theft of $2.8 million worth of assets after its official Instagram account was hijacked by scammers.
Experts now believe that there is a dire need to keep highlighting that no one must ever click on a link without checking it. Analyzing a message or a post is equally important as it gives a rough idea of the intentions.
As a precautionary measure, it is recommended to enable 2-Factor Authentication on every social media platform. Twitter and Discord accounts could be set on priority since they are widely targeted on the internet.
The creator and trader must also protect accounts in every NFT space.
A lot of hacks promise to offer free elements or exclusive benefits. Keeping an eye on such posts comes in handy if one is aware that a scammer could be behind all that, only to steal money.
Advertisement
Takashi Murakami remains the most acclaimed artist to have emerged from post-war Asia. He is 60-years old and based in Tokyo, Japan. Takashi Murakami pursued an education at the Tokyo University of Arts.
One of his signature creations is the Superflat aesthetic. This two-dimensional and colorful content bridges the thin line between fine art and pop culture by reuniting elements of anime, ukiyo-e woodcuts, and Japanese nihonga.
