The latest report by cryptocurrency risk management company Elliptic states that scammers have stolen more than $100 million worth of NFTs between July 2021 and July 2022.
Although we’re seeing a decline in the NFT market, the number of scams is only going up.
Here are the stats
- The number of stolen NFTs reached a record high in July – totaling 4647 NFTs
- The most stolen in a single month was $24 million in May 2022
- The most valuable NFT stolen was a CryptoPunk valued at around $490,000 at the time it was stolen back in November 2021.
- Scammers were able to steal 16 blue chip NFTs worth over $2 million from a single victim
- 53% of stolen NFTs were liquidated through Tornado Cash.
- Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, Azuki, Otherside and CloneX constitute the bulk of value lost to scams
- 167 Bored Apes have been reported stolen
Tornado Cash was used to process $137.6 million worth of crypto from NFT platforms and was “the laundering tool of choice” for most scams. They have since been sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Asset Control.
It’s difficult to ascertain the actual value of NFT scams, mainly because many attacks go unreported, so the value of lost assets is likely to be much higher.
Scammers continue to use new methods to steal away NFT from their original owners. Most common methods include generic phishing attacks and social media compromises.
