ApeCoin (APE) Airdrop Triggered Phishing Scams to Steal Ape NFTs

• APE price slid on news of stolen NFTs.

BAYC warns of ongoing attempts to send fake links with a promise of exclusive mint.

High-profile Ape NFTs found in hacker’s wallet.

ApeCoin (APE) arrived to significant success, becoming a representative of the NFT space in just a couple of weeks. But the APE airdrop also generated a new type of scam – a honeypot that led to the loss of some high-end Apes from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. 

The scam promises an additional airdrop, which can only be received after paying an ETH gas fee. The fake offers have infested the Twitter and Discord spaces of BAYC and APE holders, and are using a faked website to make users sign the fake mint with their wallets. 

#BAYC and #Doodle discord has been hacked and Scammers are stealing NFTs worth millions by offering free mints through a fake website.

Don’t fall for freebies in crypto until the source is fully verified and tested.#Scam #Metamask #Hackers #Ethereum

— CryptoneticAJ (@cryptoneticAJ) April 1, 2022

The ETH fee was not the only loss – because users approved and signed with their wallets, the site could also make a claim to rare and valuable Ape NFTs held in those wallets. Some high-profile Apes were stolen and may be blacklisted for further sales. 

#PeckShieldAlert #phishing JayChou's NFTs were stolen, including a BAYC, MAYC, & two Doodles. https://t.co/TAbfNGHinp#BAYC #phantabear #jaychou @BoredApeYC #nft #BoredApeYachtClub #BoredApeYC pic.twitter.com/drVTkNqBp3

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) April 1, 2022

The scam also affected the Doodles NFT community, again by compromising their Discord server. 

How BAYC and APE Prices Reflected the Scam

BAYC was still in the top 3 NFT Collections in the past months, commanding a floor price above 80 ETH. 

The news of the scam also affected APE market prices, making the token slide from nearly $15 down to $12.92, crashing just as the news of the exploit was announced. 

The good news is that the scam is easy to avoid, and BAYC already warned about trying to mint anything from Discord links. 

STAY SAFE. Do not mint anything from any Discord right now. A webhook in our Discord was briefly compromised. We caught it immediately but please know: we are not doing any April Fools stealth mints / airdrops etc. Other Discords are also being attacked right now.

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) April 1, 2022

The BAYC social media community is also busy reporting the faked accounts. Some of the solicitations come from verified Twitter handles with blue checkmarks, adding to the confusion. The scams are also coinciding with a series of giveaways and incentives for APE.

The telling sign of faked BAYC accounts is that they are too numerous, more than the number of existing Ape NFTs. They are also verified and aggressive about following users and soliciting the fake minting site. Invitations also come from accounts dedicated to APE tokens.