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NFT scams usually are not all that uncommon on Elon Musk’s X. Neither are high-profile accounts on X, previously referred to as Twitter, getting hacked.
Nevertheless, it is not on a regular basis that an ESPN reporter with tens of millions of followers will get hacked by a scammer trying to trick customers of arguably essentially the most mainstream NFT undertaking into giving them entry to their crypto wallets.
On Saturday night, ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski’s account on X printed a put up linking to a “free NFT pack” for NBA Prime Shot prospects who linked their crypto pockets to the platform.
“NBA Prime Shot, the favored NFT platform, is including help for the favored Ethereum blockchain,” Wojnarowski’s @wojespn account posted to his greater than 6.3 million followers. “In celebration, a free NFT pack is on the market to all prospects, whereas portions final.” The put up obtained a whole bunch of hundreds of impressions in addition to a whole bunch of retweets and likes.
The hyperlink included within the put up despatched customers to the URL “nbatopshot dot org.” the place customers have been prompted to attach their crypto pockets with a purpose to achieve entry to the supposed “free NFT pack.”
One downside for individuals who clicked the hyperlink, nevertheless: The giveaway was not actual. NBA Prime Shot’s official area is “nbatopshot dot com” not “dot org.” Wojnarowski’s X account was compromised.
The official NBA Prime Shot account posted a disclaimer, warning customers concerning the rip-off about an hour after the preliminary rip-off put up.
“There may be NO Free Airdrop taking place on NBA Prime Shot at the moment,” the @NBATopShot account posted. “Please watch out and all the time double verify hyperlinks. The one official NBA Prime Shot website is https://nbatopshot.com. Thanks.”
An airdrop is a standard promotional tactic discovered within the crypto area the place initiatives will reward customers with freebies like tokens or NFTs after they put money into the undertaking or join their crypto wallets to a platform. The follow has additionally been generally weaponized by scammers trying to drain customers’ crypto wallets of funds or property with the newfound permissions granted by a person after connecting their account.
NBA Prime Shot was one of many hottest NFT initiatives of the crypto growth of the early 2020s. The formally licensed NFT undertaking allowed customers to purchase, promote, and commerce their favourite NBA highlights.
Nevertheless, as The Verge factors out, NBA Prime Shot, like all NFTs, have taken an enormous reputation hit in recent times. In line with Cryptoslam.io, which tracks NFT gross sales, NBA Prime Shot solely had round 8,100 distinctive sellers and 5,550 distinctive patrons in January 2024. That is approach down from the NBA Prime Shot market’s peak in March 2021 the place it had practically 400,000 patrons.
Excessive-profile hacked accounts, like Wojnarowski’s, have gotten a lot too frequent on Elon Musk’s X. Mashable has beforehand reported on the proliferation of hacked accounts belonging to superstar customers, such because the hacker who promotes the “10 MacBooks” rip-off.
Celebrities like Anya Taylor-Pleasure and LeVar Burton have had their X accounts stolen after which utilized by the hacker to try to bilk their followers out of cash. Oftentimes, these accounts are stolen by hackers impersonating official X firm accounts or staff, who then socially engineer customers into giving them their account data.
It is unclear what number of customers, if any, fell for the NBA Prime Shot NFT air drop rip-off. The put up on Wojnarowski’s account has since been eliminated.
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