This Is How OpenSea Plans to Combat NFT Scams

This Is How OpenSea Plans to Combat NFT Scams

Key Insights:

  • NFT thieves use malicious URLs to compromise collectors' wallets.
  • To tackle NFT theft, OpenSea launched an automated feature to detect and prevent the sales of stolen collections.
  • The feature includes a tool that detects malicious links

Due to multiple attacks in the NFT ecosystem, OpenSea – the largest NFT marketplace – unveiled a new security feature. This automated feature detects stolen assets and prevents their sales.  

The hackers behind these exploits use malicious links to compromise projects and collections. Before you identify what's happening, these hackers run away with collectibles.

A similar case of such hacks in recent times is the attack on Ethereum NFT, Nouns. For instance, NFTs worth about 42ETH were stolen from 25 users. They all said they clicked on a link shared by Nouns' Twitter account. 

Opensea
Opensea

OpenSea Plans to Freeze Stolen NFTs 

Lately, OpenSea announced the integration of an updated security feature on its NFT marketplace. The system is built to detect and freeze NFTs involved in suspicious sales. While the NFT is frozen, it will review the transaction to ascertain if it belongs to the seller. 

Thus, the feature will help to ascertain the original collectors. To that end, it will go a long way in preventing theft and scams. It will alert buyers of a suspicious NFT transaction and give a week-long period to dispute or confirm. After confirmation from the original owner, the asset can then be sold to its new collector.

In the announcement, OpenSea says it is launching an automated URL scanner. This automated URL scanner will identify malicious links. Hence, it is expected to prevent users from falling prey to them. 

This tool looks out for compromised links — when a user inputs a link to OpenSea, it automatically detects and disables such links. These links often redirect users to malicious websites and make your wallet

Therefore,  OpenSea is looking for behaviors that might insinuate an endeavor to swindle assets from users.

That's the kind of thing we're looking for in that simulation,"

Anne Fauvre-Willis, OpenSea's VP of Operations, said. She continued,

Is this asking for something that is unreasonable to ask for from a third-party site?"

Since scammers and thieves use malicious links in the guise of airdrops or free mints, NFT theft has increased. These thieves drain victims' assets and flip them to unsuspecting collectors.  In this tweet by Pyramidion Solutions, the new feature is to shield OpenSea users from NFT scammers. 

Conclusion

Over $100 million of NFTs were stolen between July 2021 and July 2022, according to Elliptic.

To end that, OpenSea launched a new feature to detect and tackle "the biggest barrier to broader NFT adoption."

OpenSea said the new feature could successfully block the resale of such stolen collections. However, it cannot guarantee that the theft victims will reclaim their lost assets. 

OpenSea is making bold moves to secure the NFT space. Fauvre-Willis says,

It's important that we follow the law and that we make this space safer overall."

She added,

I think we can't expect the space to grow and expand adoption if we don't make these investments."

Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information but will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.

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