NFT Project ‘Moonbirds’ Under Hack Attack, Digital Collectibles Worth $1.5 Stolen So Far

As per media reports, hackers are running a phishing scam around the Moonbirds project. Victims are being hunted for on Twitter.

By Radhika Parashar | Updated: 26 May 2022 14:32 IST

NFT Project ‘Moonbirds’ Under Hack Attack, Digital Collectibles Worth $1.5 Stolen So Far

Photo Credit: Website/ Moonbirds NFT

Details about investigations in the case remain unclear for now

Highlights

Moonbirds is an Ethereum blockchain-based NFT collection
Moonbirds NFTs are on OpenSea, LooksRare
A Twitter user named @Dvincent_ is being speculated as the scammer

Moonbirds NFT project has been struck by hackers, who have already stolen 29 digital collectibles worth ETH 750 (roughly Rs. 11 crore). The project was launched just one month ago in April and shortly after, it garnered popularity among members of the crypto community. Launched by PROOF Collective, Moonbirds is an Ethereum blockchain-based NFT collection that offers 10,000 unique profile pictures. Holders get access to the PROOF community and can ‘nest' their NFT owls for rewards and benefits.

Hackers are running a phishing scam around the Moonbirds project. Victims are being hunted for on Twitter, The Block Crypto said in a report.

Members of the crypto community are now posting warning messages around this ongoing phishing scam in Twitter, to alert the NFT community.

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29 Moonbirds were just stolen in a hack.

~750e (~$1,500,000) in value lost by clicking on a bad link.

Sickening seeing stuff like this. Let this be a reminder to never ever click on links and to bookmark the marketplaces/trading sites that you use. pic.twitter.com/7iWO5LMovL
— Cirrus (@CirrusNFT) May 25, 2022

29 moonbirds were stolen in a hack!

Total value of these is 720ETH (~ $1,500,000)

All this just by clicking a bad lind. Please be safe and don't click on any links. All your DMs are a scam.#nfts #nft #nftscam #crypto #nftnews pic.twitter.com/h8sjFxMTQn
— Web3rekt (@web3rekt) May 25, 2022

While the identity of the notorious hacker(s) remains a mystery, a Twitter user who goes by the username ‘@0xLosingMoney' claims to have recognised the fraudster.

In a series of tweets, @0xLosingMoney called out another Twitter user ‘@Dvincent_' a scammer, who is said to be behind this phishing attack.

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“He offered his victim to trade for his NFT's on the p2peers.io-website. He approved the hacker's wallet to transfer his NFT's,” @0xLosingMoney wrote in his thread.

This is the official Tx.

➼ @DVincent_ (hacker) wallet is (0x7ccf) and he is now approved as the operator of the victims wallet (0x5afcab) to transfer from the Moonbirds contract.

➼ I don't have evidence on how this happened, probably an approval function on the website. pic.twitter.com/TebF6zXMIs
— Andeh #OnChain (@0xLosingMoney) May 25, 2022

I couldn't find @Dvincent_ on the internet, it was too hard.

➼ I was able to lookup the https://t.co/8Q8NM69vvq website he used, and it was been involved in MANY scams.

➼ As expected, most of the owner details are hidden.

➼ We do see the registrar is https://t.co/uwfe714yHj pic.twitter.com/KWxF8YqsPa
— Andeh #OnChain (@0xLosingMoney) May 25, 2022

The account of @Dvincent_ no longer exists, shows Twitter.

Since its launch, Moonbirds has been facing scam attacks.

On April 9, the Twitter handle of this project had also posted a warning telling users about their only official website.

:rotating_light: BEWARE of scammers, we don't Instagram, have a public discord, or have any other URL other than https://t.co/py5fF2nTlX :owl:
— Moonbirds (:owl:, 🍽, :skull:) (@moonbirds) April 8, 2022

The money collected by via this Moonbirds project goes to PROOF Holdings, a True Ventures backed Web3 media company that brings together NFT artists and creators.

“We have big plans and this funding will be used solely to expand our team and launch new products — ultimately creating additional value for our community,” the project website says.

As per the OpenSea data, over 6,500 owners already hold Moonbirds NFTs. The floor price of these digital collectibles is ETH 23 (roughly Rs. 34 lakh).

The collection is also available for purchase on LooksRare NFT marketplace.

Hackers continue to stay active in the crypto and NFT spaces, looking for innocent and unsuspecting people to dupe.

In April, at least 54 Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs were stolen in a hack attack, the floor price of which reportedly comes close to $13.7 million (roughly Rs. 105 crore).

The hacker posted a fraudulent link to a copycat of the BAYC website and directed clickers to connect their MetaMask wallets to the scammer's wallet in order to participate in a fake airdrop.

A phishing attack also drained NFTs worth $1.7 million (roughly Rs. 12.5 crore) from OpenSea. In this case, the attacker(s) lured OpenSea users into digitally signing malicious messages via phishing emails or websites.

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Further reading: NFT, Cryptocurrency, Hacking, Phishing, Non Fungible Tokens

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More