Jay Chou, Taiwanese Star Loses $550k in Bored Ape Yacht Club Phishing Attack | Discord Token Theft No April Fool’s Joke

The rapidly evolving NFT space has become riddled with global scams, fraud and theft recently, with little regulatory oversight in place.

So is it any wonder that Taiwanese star, Jay Chou, and other high net worth individuals were targeted in the most recent phishing attack hack on BAYC’s (Bored Ape Yacht Club) Discord account?

TLDR Breakdown

• Bored Ape Yacht Club’s Discord account has been hacked, some users’ money stolen, and the token is already on the market.
• The Bored Ape Yacht Club has also issued a stern warning to its users, urging them not to remove anything from the official Discord channel.
• Taiwanese musician Jay Chou has lost more than $550,000 of top-notch NFTs after being targeted by a phishing scam.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection’s Discord server has been hacked today. The BAYC crew confirmed the hack on Twitter. The attack seems to have been a phishing scam, as user funds were stolen from their wallets. The hacker also appears to have gotten hold of the club’s Discord token, which is already on the market.

The Bored Ape Yacht Club suffers fall to a phishing attack

An unknown hacker compromised the Discord servers of one of the largest NFT collections, BAYC. The hacker got access to the Discord server that houses Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and Mutant Ape Kennel Club, all three Yuga Labs NFT collections.

With the access, the hacker launched a phishing attack on the community. At least one of the users was reported to have lost his NFT amid the attack. The hacker also appears to have gotten hold of the club’s Discord token, which is already on the market.

In a brief tweet, the Discord team acknowledged the hack without providing much information or details about how it was carried out. The hacker was able to use the Mutant Ape Yacht Club channel to send phishing links, according to security firm PeckShield.

STAY SAFE. Do not mint anything from any Discord right now. A webhook in our Discord was briefly compromised. We caught it immediately but please know: we are not doing any April Fools stealth mints / airdrops etc. Other Discords are also being attacked right now.

— Bored Ape Yacht Club (@BoredApeYC) April 1, 2022

It’s (NO) April Fool’s Joke!

BAYC warned followers and NFT holders that this is neither AirDrop nor a joke or incident, as it characterized the situation in its warning tweet. Other NFT collections are currently under attack, the initiative warned. Users should not use any links in Discord channels connected to NFTs since they may be harmful.

According to the blockchain security company, an unknown individual fell prey to a phishing scam and obtained access to Mutant Ape Yacht Club #8662, which was intended to be viewed as a “stealth NFT mint.”

The BAYC crew announced that they had “caught it [the hack] right away” in a tweet, but not fast enough to prevent any thefts, and advised users not to make any NFTs using the link provided on its Discord. The team’s tweet also stated, “we are not doing any April Fools pranks/airdrops, etc.”

This isn’t the first time Bored Ape Yacht Club has been hacked. Unfortunately, this is not the first hack or phishing campaign against the NFT community, nor is it the market. Rare Bears, an NFT project that recently debuted in the non-fungible token sector, has been hacked. It was hit by a number of hacker assaults, and phishing scams, resulting in substantial losses for users. In addition, at the start of the year, OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT trading platform, was hit by a slew of hacks, phishing assaults, and exploits, resulting in significant losses for users.

Pop Superstar Jay Chou Loses $550,000 in NFTs to a Phishing Scam

After being targeted by a phishing scam, Taiwanese musician Jay Chou has lost more than $550,000 of top-notch NFTs. The scam seems to have been aimed at high net worth individuals, as Chou holds significant value in the crypto space.

According to reports, the swindler stole an NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection given to him by renowned Taiwanese singer Jeffrey Hwang (aka Machi Big Brother). He also lost an NFT from Mutant Ape Yacht Club and two NFTs from the Doodles. One of Asia’s most famous people confirmed the theft in a social media post.

He claims he initially thought it was an April Fool’s joke before realizing he no longer had access to his treasured NFTs. Scammers purchase verified Twitter accounts for a few thousand dollars and run free scams, according to chain sleuth Zach XBT. Scammers frequently employ bots to deceive victims into clicking on links that direct them to a phishing site, where they may be robbed of their NFTs.

Other common social media platforms, such as Instagram, are also used by fraudulent actors to locate prospective targets. It may only take a split second for one to decide to give up their belongings for good.