A renowned NFT influence has experienced a massive financial hit as an outcome of downloading malicious software that they discovered through a Google Ad search result, costing them what they deemed to be “a life-changing amount” in nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies.
On January 14th, the anonymous figure on Twitter known as “NFT God” posted a series of tweets that detailed how his entire digital presence had been infiltrated – from crypto wallets to multiple online accounts. It was an eye-opening experience for all those who followed him and served as a reminder that even in this day and age security is still paramount when it comes to our personal information.
Alex, known as NFT God, mistakenly clicked on a sponsored advertisement in Google’s search engine rather than the official website for OBS – an open-source video streaming software. The malicious link sent him to a fake website which then prompted him to download what he thought was the official OBS software, but was in fact a variant of AZORult malware.
The hackers behind this attack were able to gain complete access to his online accounts and digital wallets containing various NFTs and cryptocurrencies, resulting in their entire life savings being drained in an instant.
It was several hours later when Alex realized the malicious consequences of what appeared to be a harmless sponsored advertisement that ran alongside the software he had intended to download. Attackers took advantage of two Twitter accounts managed by Alex and posted a series of phishing tweets, ultimately downloading malware onto his computer.
After ascertaining a message from an acquaintance, Alex discerned his cryptocurrency wallet had been infiltrated as well. The following day, assailants successfully stormed through his Substack account and sent out fraudulent emails to the 16,000 people subscribed to it.
Google Ads-delivered malware draining NFT influencers’ entire crypto wallets is a testament to the severity of online security threats. With hackers getting ever more sophisticated, it is crucial that we remain vigilant and take all necessary steps to protect our information and data.
