Sponsored ad links on Google hide malware that stole thousands of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies and NFTs from influencer wallets.
An NFT influencer claims to have lost a "life-changing amount" of their net worth in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies after accidentally downloading malware found via Google ad search results. The pseudo-anonymous influencer known on Twitter as "NFT God" posted a series of tweets on Jan. 14 describing how his "entire digital life" was compromised, including his crypto wallet and Multiple online accounts were compromised.
NFT master, also known as "Alex", said he used Google's search engine to download the open source video streaming software OBS. But instead of clicking on the official website, he clicked on a sponsored ad for what he thought was the same thing.
It wasn't until hours later after the attackers posted a series of phishing tweets on two Twitter accounts run by Alex that he realized the malware was from a sponsored ad linked to what he wanted. downloaded together with the software. According to acquaintances, Alex noticed that his crypto wallet had also been compromised. The next day, attackers compromised his Substack account and sent phishing emails to his 16,000 subscribers.
Blockchain data shows that at least 19 Ether. The Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT, worth nearly $27,000 at the time, with a current base price of 16 ETH ($25,000), was stolen from Alex’s wallet along with multiple other NFTs.
The attacker moved most of the ETH through multiple wallets and then sent it to the decentralized exchange (DEX) FixedFloat, where it was exchanged for an unknown cryptocurrency.
Alex believes that the "serious mistake" that allowed the wallet to be hacked was to set his hardware wallet as a hot wallet by entering its seed phrase "in a way that is no longer kept cold" or offline, which made the hacker Able to control his cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Unfortunately, NFT God's experience isn't the first time the crypto community has dealt with password-stealing malware in Google Ads.
