Hackers steal about $438,000 through a compromised Beeple Twitter account

Unknown hackers gained access to the Twitter account of artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, to post phishing links.

⚠️ Beeple’s Twitter account has been compromised (ATO) to post a phishing website to steal funds.

0x7b69c4f2ACF77300025E49DbDbB65B068b2Fda7D
0xF305F6073CFa24f05FF15CA5b387DD91f871b983 pic.twitter.com/0MPNwOPlEu

— harry.eth 🦊💙 (whg.eth) (@sniko_) May 22, 2022

Users were invited to a website allegedly dedicated to Beeple’s partnership with the fashion house Louis Vuitton.

Cybersecurity specialist with the handle harry.eth from the MetaMask team noted that clicking the link led to unauthorized withdrawals from the user’s wallet. The attackers’ haul amounted to 35 ETH (~$71 200).

The hackers later changed tactics and published a new phishing link. As a result, they obtained another 100 ETH and 45 NFTs. In total, users lost assets worth about $438,000.

If we assume everything is secure, at time of this tweet the bad actors managed to scam:

Scam #1
36ETH (~$72k)
0xf305 is yet to withdraw

Scam #2
62.35ETH (~$125k)
37.59WETH (~$75k)
45 NFTs (est ~$166k)

Total = $438k (active for ~5hours)

— harry.eth 🦊💙 (whg.eth) (@sniko_) May 22, 2022

Unknown attackers retained control of the artist’s account for roughly five hours before he managed to regain it.

ugh we’ll that was fun way to wake up. 😫

Twitter was hacked but we have control now. Huge thanks to @garyvee ‘a team for quick help!!!! 🙏🙏🙏

— beeple (@beeple) May 22, 2022

In March 2021, Beeple sold at Christie’s auction the work Everydays: The First 5000 Days as NFT for $60.3 million. Including fees, the buyer paid $69.3 million.

In May 2022, the artist announced the release of a joint NFT collection with pop star Madonna.