An NFT influencer says they lost “a life-changing amount” of their net worth in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency after downloading malicious software from a Google Ad search result.
On January 14, the pseudo-anonymous Twitter influencer known as “NFT God” posted a series of tweets about how his “entire digital livelihood” was attacked, including a hack of his crypto wallet and multiple online identities.
Last night my entire digital livelihood was violated.
— NFT God (@NFT_GOD) January 15, 2023
Every account connected to me both personally and professionally was hacked and used to hurt others.
Less importantly, I lost a life changing amount of my net worth
Alex, who goes by the name “NFT God,” said that he used Google’s search engine to get an open-source video streaming program called OBS. He didn’t go to the official website. Instead, he went to an ad for what he thought was the same thing.
Alex didn’t know that malware had been downloaded along with the software he wanted from the sponsored ad until hours later when attackers sent phishing tweets to two Twitter accounts he manages.
Alex found out his crypto wallet had been broken into when a friend sent him a message. The next day, attackers got into his Substack account and sent phishing emails to all 16,000 of his subscribers.
I quickly delete the scam tweets the hackers posted. Caught it 2 minutes after the links went live. Phew.
— NFT God (@NFT_GOD) January 15, 2023
If only that were the last chapter of this story. Unfortunately it was just the first.
Upon returning to my apartment, we make some dinner then sink into the couch
Based on information from the blockchain, at least 19 Ether tickers worth about $27,000 and a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT with a current floor price of 16 ETH ($25,000) were taken from Alex’s wallet. Many other NFTs were also taken.
Most of the ETH went through different wallets before being sent to the decentralized exchange (DEX) FixedFloat, where it was traded for unknown cryptocurrencies.
Alex says that the “key mistake” that let the hackers get control of his crypto and NFTs was that he set up his hardware wallet as a “hot wallet” by entering its seed phrase “in a way that no longer kept it cold,” or offline.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that cryptocurrency users have found malware in Google Ads that steals cryptocurrency.
“Rhadamanthys Stealer,” a piece of malware that steals information, is spreading through Google Ads on “very convincing phishing webpages,” according to a Jan. 12 report from the cybersecurity firm Cyble.
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