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Before the Super Bowl, an NFT video of Tom Brady was sold for $40,712. This leads many Non-Fungible Token users to want to ride the wave with celebrities, but there is a need to be very careful about the vulnerabilities of the blockchain.
And indeed, NFT marketplaces have lost over 38 million dollars due to crypto scams in the last year.
Tom Brady NFT at $40,000, but marketplaces lose over $38 million due to scams
Before Super Bowl LVIII, a Tom Brady NFT video was sold for $40,712. Also, the Joe Montana NFT, who has previously played for both the Chiefs and the 49ers, was sold for $34,000.
The allure of celebrities behind these NFTs could boost the demand for other cryptocurrencies, especially with major sports and star events on the horizon.
However, users should be warned about the dark side of the NFT industry, which is crypto scams.
According to data collected by the Smart Betting Guide, it seems that NFT marketplaces have lost over 38 million dollars in funds due to scams in the last year.
In practice, although the blockchain offers its benefits such as transparency, decentralization, and verifiable authenticity, it can become susceptible to security risks such as phishing attacks, physical theft, malware, and social engineering attacks.
NFT Tom Brady at $40,000 but beware of scams: Ethereum is the most affected
Smart Betting Guide has compiled several rankings, analyzing a database that records cryptocurrency scams and exploits to identify the most vulnerable platforms and blockchains of the past year.
And indeed, out of over $38 million stolen, 37 million seems to have been stolen from Ethereum users, making it the most targeted blockchain with 97% of scams. Following that, there is the Binance blockchain with over $1 million and Cardano with $25,000.
With these numbers, the category of NFT doesn’t seem to be the most affected by crypto scams of all kinds, in fact it ranks only in seventh place.
In this sense, cryptocurrency bridges lost over 409 million dollars last year, while “CeFi” saw nearly 250 million dollars stolen in 2023 by cybercrimes.
In this regard, Zigmas Pekarskas, CEO of Smart Betting Guide, stated: “
“Some platforms, including NFT databases, are more susceptible to cybercrime than others. When making transactions on one of these platforms, make sure to do your research and due diligence. Research the NFT market and the seller, focusing on reviews, ratings, and feedback from other users. This should also be done when purchasing an extremely limited or sought-after item, such as the Tom Brady NFT sold before the Super Bowl. Verify that the NFT you are interested in is authentic and not an authorized copy, and check the usage rights.” Use a secure cryptocurrency wallet to store your funds and NFT assets, preferably with multi-signature support, and report any suspicious activity or fraudulent listings to the marketplace’s support team as soon as possible.”
Ethereum is the blockchain most affected by crypto scams
Recently, Smart Betting Guide has published another set of results, in which they see Ethereum as the blockchain most affected by crypto scams in the last year.
The study took into account the most common scams, cumulative losses, and vulnerable blockchains.
In this sense, Ethereum has seen 576.6 million pounds stolen, considering all the funds returned as well. This represents a loss that is 605% higher than the average of blockchains.
The report added that the crypto scam that resulted in the highest loss on Ethereum is access control exploits. In practice, here, scammers exploit system vulnerability to gain direct access to users’ credentials or data.