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Experts Caution that Ape-Themed Airdrop Phishing Scams are Increasing

Experts Caution that Ape-Themed Airdrop Phishing Scams are Increasing

Even as the cryptocurrency community becomes aware of and reports similar scams, the perpetrators tend to disable replies to tweets in order to avoid being identified.

Airdrop phishing is becoming increasingly popular between cryptocurrency and nonfungible token (NFT) hackers, according to cybersecurity specialists.

Airdrops are an important marketing strategy for cryptocurrency projects because they entail sending out free cryptocurrency tokens or NFTs to raise investor awareness. Nevertheless, a new Malwarebytes Labs analysis revealed a worrying increase in airdrop phishing operations as scammers try to capitalize on the enthusiasm surrounding Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), the NFT collection of Yuga Labs.

The most often used airdrop phishing method according to Malwarebytes is the usage of fake websites which pass for the official sites, explaining that “Apes are, of course, the hottest draw in town where Airdrop phishing is concerned.”

The results of the report highlighted scammers’ increasing interest in ape-themed phishing, noting the “variety of fake pages out there reflects this.” Furthermore, Malwarebytes cautions about the emergence of the airdrop scam that allows users to connect their wallets, in which Twitter accounts with large followings pose as renowned projects like the Moonbirds project, which offers NFT airdrops to users.

Though the crypto community becomes aware of and reports similar scams, the perpetrators tend to disable replies to their tweets in order to avoid being discovered. The official verified Moonbirds account cautioned about the scammers in this situation.

Malwarebytes’ suggestion is consistent with standard security guidelines to refrain from answering “yes” to all a website requests, summarizing: “if you start granting permissions, or signing transactions, you may find your wallet draining of funds.”

The excitement surrounding Yuga Labs’ NFTs is real, as correctly stated in the Malwarebytes report. The current “Otherdeed” NFTs release, which sold every digital plot of land for 305 ApeCoin (APE), were sold out instantaneously.

The transaction caused an unusual but brief increase in the gas fees of Ethereum (ETH). Yuga Labs declared the necessity for ApeCoin (APE) to shift to its chain in order to scale correctly, noting several of the challenges associated with utilizing Ethereum (ETH) throughout its NFT rollout.

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