Scammers Stole NFTs Worth $100 Million In Past Year: Report

NFTs are a rage despite the crypto market crashes in recent times. Collectors are ready to invest millions in Non-Fungible Tokens to own a digital piece of art, which can literally be a GIF of a 'Bored Ape' wearing fancy hats and tracksuits. Like any cryptocurrency asset, the NFT market is volatile and demands some knowledge of the space before making an investment.

If it's just a hobby for you, make sure you safeguard your investments. As per a report by a blockchain research firm, thieves stole over $100 million worth of non-fungible tokens in the past year. Interestingly, this is despite the downfall in the cryptocurrency market.

The $100 million is nothing but investments from NFT enthusiasts and artists willing to invest in art. If this rings a bell, let's get into details.

Scammers Steal Over $100 Million NFT Since The Last Year

A new report shared by Elliptic,a cryptocurrency risk management firm reveals scammers across the globe have stolen over $100 million worth of NFT since 2021. For the unaware, NFT stands for non-fungible tokens that are based on blockchain technology and are programmed in the same way as cryptocurrencies.

The firm released the report in its NFTs and Financial Crime segment on Wednesday. According to the report, scammers targeted crypto users and stole roughly around $100.6 million worth of NFTs from them. This scam has been carried out in the last 13-month period ranging from July 2021 to July 2022.

The report further highlights the total estimated value of the assets that the scammers have stolen from the users. The cybersecurity firm said that the scammers weren't affected by the fact that the value of NFTs has been slumping with the downturn in the crypto market and carried out the thefts within the aforementioned timeframe.

The report adds that most of the tokens were stolen in July 2022. During this month, the total estimated assets stolen by the scammers have been around 4,647 during in the last month. Whereas, the maximum value in May 2022 has been roughly around $23.9 million.

A tweet shared by the security firm states, "Over $100 million worth of NFTs were publicly reported as stolen through scams between July 2021 and July 2022, netting perpetrators $300,000 per scam on average".

Additionally, the scammers have also facilitated over $8 million in illicit funds using NFT tokens. This has been carried out since 2017. However, reports are rife that the actual figures could be much higher considering not all thefts are reported publicly. As per Elliptic, most of the unreported thefts are of lower-priced NFTs which is why they go unnoticed.

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