Recently, there has been a skyrocket of scammers trying to use ape-themed airdrop strategies to defraud unsuspecting community members of their tokens.
This has attracted the attention of cybersecurity professionals that have spoken at length about the increasing presence of scammers using airdrop phishing strategies to steal people’s fungible tokens and nonfungible tokens.
Typically, airdrop has been used for a long time by legitimate crypto platforms to attract more people to hold their tokens and use the functionalities in their ecosystem. This is changing, as scammers are now employing this marketing tactic to achieve their nefarious objectives.
Malwarebytes Labs released a report stating an increasing number of phishing attempts implemented via airdrops. Based on what the cybersecurity experts noticed, these fraudulent people tend to use the hype surrounding the Bored Ape Yacht Club Collection.
BAYC NFT project has attracted the attention of notable people and brands, which has led scammers to try and use this to their advantage.
A trick that scammers use, according to Malwarebytes, is that they create fake websites that replicate genuine Ape and other NFT websites and add phishing tools to them.
🚨 BEWARE of scammers, we don't Instagram, have a public discord, or have any other URL other than https://t.co/py5fF2nTlX 🦉
— Moonbirds (🦉, 🎨) (@moonbirds) April 8, 2022
Typically, a scam attempt may involve convincing the unsuspecting crypto enthusiast to visit a website to claim some Ape NFTs. When the potential victim is on the website, they are asked to unveil their password or recovery phrase before they are eligible to win an Ape NFT.
A fake Twitter page mimicking Moonbirds claimed that it was offering an airdrop.
Malwarebytes added that there is also an increase in popular Twitter accounts claiming to be the face of an NFT project while convincing their followers to connect their wallets before they can benefit from an airdrop.
