FBI Warns of Criminals Pretending To Be NFT Developers

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has warned about a rising trend of financial fraud in the NFT community. Scammers are pretending to be legitimate NFT developers and exploiting people who are eager to obtain these assets on the internet.

Last Friday, a public service announcement was released warning about deceptive individuals who use different tactics to gain access to NFT developer social media accounts or create fake accounts that look like real ones.

These people then promote fake NFT releases through fraudulent posts that create a sense of urgency by using phrases like “limited supply” and enticing users with the promise of a surprise or unannounced event.

Individuals who fall victim to this scam are directed to fraudulent websites that are designed to look like legitimate NFT project pages. These unsuspecting users are then urged to link their cryptocurrency wallets to make the NFT purchase.

Unfortunately, the wallets are directly linked to malicious intelligent contracts. This connection allows criminals to steal their victims’ cryptocurrency funds and valuable NFTs. To make matters worse, criminals often use various cryptocurrency mixers and exchanges to launder stolen digital assets, making it difficult to track down and recover stolen items.

The FBI advises internet users to take precautions to protect themselves from malicious actors who offer surprise NFT opportunities. To avoid becoming a victim, individuals should conduct thorough research, verify social media accounts, confirm website authenticity, and be cautious of tempting rewards.

If anyone encounters suspicious NFT-related activities, they should immediately report them to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) using the keyword “NFTHack.” Providing relevant links, social media accounts, crypto accounts, or domains used in the scam would be helpful for the investigation.