Digital artists meet scam artists, as criminals pounce on NFT craze

Digital artists meet scam artists, as criminals pounce on NFT craze

An example of hashmask image that accompanies a Non-Fungible Token. (Created by “Suum Cuique Labs GmbH”,. Full ownership and unlimited commercial usage rights given to the consumer over their NFT. Source: https://www.thehashmasks.com/terms Section 3. A., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Many people have never even heard of non-fungible tokens. And yet, it’s become such a hot trend that scammers have taken notice and are attempting to lure current and prospective traders onto NFT-themed phishing and fraud websites.


For the uninitiated, NFTs are unique tokens that accompany original and collectible digital artwork or videos that can be sold or traded as a form of cryptocurrency, with transactions registered on the blockchain. Many of the earlier NFTs involved illustrations of kittens, but they can take the form of just about anything.


For instance, a collage created by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, recently earned $69.4 million in an auction, while the first-ever tweet from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was digital artists artists criminals pounce craze