Crypto influencer NFT God claims that they were tricked into installing harmful software from a Google Ad search result, which caused them to lose a ‘life-changing amount’ of their net worth in the form of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency.
On January 14, the pseudonymous influencer tweeted a series of updates detailing the complete destruction of his digital life due to a hack of his cryptocurrency wallet and other accounts. His Twitter, Substack, Gmail, Discord, and wallets were all hacked within the previous day, NFT God claims, cutting off all communication with his community, friends, and family.
According to NFT God, he searched for and installed OBS via Google, free software for live video broadcasting. He was looking for the official website, but ended up on the sponsored advertising for what he mistook to be the same thing.
Alex didn’t notice malware was downloaded along with the software he needed until hours later when he received a series of phishing tweets from attackers on two Twitter accounts he manages.
After receiving a text from a mutual friend, NFT God realized his cryptocurrency wallet had been hacked as well. According to the information recorded by the blockchain, the influencer’s wallet was emptied of at least 19 ETH, valued around $27,000 at the time, a Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT with a current price level of 16 ETH, or $25,000., and many additional NFTs.
The majority of the stolen ETH was funneled via many different wallets before being sent to the decentralized exchange (DEX) FixedFloat, where it was traded for untraceable coins.
The influencer thinks that inputting the seed phrase for his hardware wallet in a manner that no longer kept it cold (offline) enabled the hackers to get control of his crypto and NFTs, which was the fundamental error that permitted the wallet breach.
