Elliptic: scammers stole NFTs worth more than $100m in a year

In the 12 months from July 2021, malicious actors stole NFTs worth more than $100 million as a result of scams, according to a report by analytics firm Elliptic.

🚨Over $100 million worth of NFTs were publicly reported as stolen through scams between July 2021 and July 2022, netting perpetrators $300,000 per scam on average.
Head to https://t.co/u6iPLjXgpR to read our NFTs and Financial Crime Report.#nft #crypto #aml

— elliptic (@elliptic) August 24, 2022

On average, scammers’ haul amounted to around $300,000 per scam.

“In July 2022, more than 4,600 NFTs were stolen—the highest monthly figure on record. This indicates that scams are not decreasing, despite the bear market,” the experts noted.

The most lucrative month, by value of stolen assets, was May, with $24 million.

According to the report, 23% of stolen NFTs were obtained by attackers through compromising social media (primarily Discord) and phishing there. Other methods included creating malicious websites, email exploits, and wallet breaches, such as in the case of Solana.

The scammers laundered 52% of NFT-scam proceeds through the Tornado Cash mixer, before the service was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in August.

Overall for the year, Tornado Cash processed crypto assets related to NFT marketplaces worth $137.6 million.

Overall, experts estimate the amount laundered through non-fungible tokens at $8 million (0.02% of marketplace turnover) since 2017.

“While crime accounts for only a small share of overall NFT trading, it has an outsized impact on the industry’s reputation and undermines the quality of service for law-abiding users,” said Elliptic researchers.

In June, trading volume on NFT marketplaces fell by 74% from the previous month, to $1.04 billion.

In July, the figure fell by another 26% and stood at $647.2 million.

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