In yet another in a series of life-affirming Web3 crashes, more than $1.74 million has been ripped off from unsuspecting potential cryptocurrency investors after the Azuki NFT anime world’s Twitter account was hacked. That’s on top of a potential million dollars worth of stolen NFTs.
After he took over Azuki official Twitter (opens in a new tab) account, hackers attempted to mislead his 334,600 fan base with a series of posts promoting fake mints. The fan base, which consists of anime, crypto and bean enthusiasts, all seem to be in good spirits despite the attack.
In case you’re wondering about the bean connection, Azuki beans are a type of sweet red bean commonly used in Japanese cuisine – a necessary piece of context for later.
Users who fell for the social engineering feat and clicked through, trying to forge through fake links, not only had their entire cryptocurrency wallets emptied, but also had many of their precious NFTs stolen. These include 74 Otherdeed NFTs worth about $2,700 each, three Porsche NFTs worth maybe $3,100, 57 Beanz NFTs at $2,600, 12 Doodles NFTs at $10,600, and 49 Pudgy Penguins in valued at $9,200. Also lost were two mutant monkeys, which could sell for around $24,300 at minimum bid (via Web3isgoinggreat (opens in a new tab)).
One user is said to have lost $750,000 in USDC stablecoin from a single wallet. Tragic, really. It would be safer to invest in actual Azuki bean stocks.
In a thread describing the events of the January 27 attack, Azuki officials say they “immediately contacted our Twitter contacts as well as took steps to alert the community. The malicious tweets and links were quickly removed.”
1/ @AzukiOfficial Twitter is under threat today. A series of malicious tweets were posted during the morning of Friday, January 27 (PT). The team has regained control of @AzukiOfficial Twitter. Details below 👇January 27, 2023
It’s unclear how the hack occurred, though Azuki says it’s currently looking into it. “We take security seriously and the Twitter account is secured using 2FA Authentication.”
Somewhat fittingly, Azuki recently partnered with clothing brand Ambush (opens in a new tab), only to be ambushed by their followers a little later. Foreshadowing, perhaps? The least I can say about Azuki is that their stuff looks a hell of a lot better animated than Adata’s awful web3 anime (opens in a new tab)Xtreme Saga.
Azuki page (opens in a new tab) it really is something to see. Imbued with a sort of Matrix-inspired “get the red bean” spy, you can travel to different parts of the world to uncover stories that are undoubtedly the gateway to NFT money-making schemes.
Alley is my favorite and I almost cried when I heard the hilarious ringtone from the Teriyaki Boys Fast & Furious Tokyo Drift theme (opens in a new tab) started playing in the background. It promises potential NFT investors “many, many diamonds dangling” as the original song suggests, though that seems to have fallen flat here.
Sounds like just another nail in the NFT coffin.