The sad story of how one man lost 550ETH+ in Apes, Mutants and Doodles NFTs

One Bored Ape Yacht Club holder is having a particularly rough start to the week, as Bored Apes, Mutants, and Doodles totaling over 550 ETH were stolen from a wallet on Monday.   The former holder is Twitter user iloveponzi, and is reported to have lost 8 apes, 5 mutants, a BAKC, and a Doodle in the theft.  

Unfortunately, this has been a common occurrence over the last few months.  Given the value of the collection, BAYC holders are often the top targets of scams and theft.  Earlier this month, Twitter user toddkramer1 lost $2.2 million worth of Apes and other NFTs to a scammer.  Since then, the Doodle community has raised ETH to purchase the NFT to be returned to the owner.  

Mitigating NFT Theft & Hacks

The NFT space is rampant with scams and theft.  Platforms like Opensea have been working with owners and communities to track down scammers and return stolen property.  Sadly however, it can be very hard to return stolen NFTs as they’re often flipped for profit immediately afterwards.  Subsequently, any user who purchases the stolen NFT is at risk of the NFT being frozen or clawed back by centralized platforms.  

Currently, there’s no long term solution to prevent theft in the NFT space.   While many wait on regulation, there’s no guarantee how effective it will be to prevent scams like this from happening.  As with any new asset class, investing in NFTs is risky.  And as with any popular, burgeoning technology there are sure to be those looking to profit from the misfortune of others.  As a reminder, do your own research, don’t accept DMs from strangers, and for God’s sake use a hardware wallet.