Just days before a hacker sold Artist Banksy’s fake NFT, a cyber-security expert had warned the artist’s team of security flaws of the website. NFT collector Pranksy had bought the Banksy NFT – the artist’s first – via his website for $366,000.
However, a scammer had hacked the artist’s website and the NFT was fake. That’s not all – in a weird turn of events, the hacker returned the amount sans the transaction fee of about $5,000.
Banksy NFT Scam: Latest developments
According to reports, a cyber-security expert had warned Banksy’s team seven days before the debacle unfolded. However, the team took no action.
“I was in a security forum and multiple people were posting links to the site,” Sam Curry, founder of security consultancy Palisade, was quoted by BBC. “I’d clicked one and immediately saw it was vulnerable, so I reached out to Banksy’s team via email as I wasn’t sure if anyone else had.”
However, Banksy’s team did not respond to the mail or Curry’s Instagram messages. According to him, the website’s flaw enabled others to “create arbitrary files on the website”. This means anyone could create their own pages and content on the website. That’s exactly what happened with the fake NFT auction. The hacker created a new page (now deleted) called “NFT” on Banksy’s website. The page further contained a link to an auction site selling the NFT.
Following the auction, Banksy’s team issued a statement saying, “Any Banksy NFT auctions are not affiliated with the artist in any shape or form.”
The incident reiterates why the NFT community needs to be wary of scammers and double-check before transferring any amount.
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