More Than $100 Million Worth Of NFTs Were Stolen Since 2021 – Elliptic

More than $100 million worth of NFTs were stolen since 2021 according to a study from Elliptic, a cryptocurrency risk management business.

Elliptic claimed in its NFTs and Financial Crime study issued on Wednesday that crypto users were victims of around $100.6 million in NFT-related frauds in the 13-month period from July 2021 to July 2022.

Although the market downturn led the value of NFTs to “slump,” the business stated that fraudsters stole the most tokens in July 2022 — an estimated 4,647 assets — and the greatest value in May 2022 — around $23.9 million.

According to Elliptic, the most valuable NFT theft documented as part of their study was a CryptoPunk worth $490,000 when taken in November 2021. Scammers were able to steal “16 blue chip NFTs valued $2.1 million” from a single victim in the crypto realm in December 2021.

According to the research, people have laundered more than $8 million in illegal transactions using NFT platforms since 2017, while more than $328 million has gone through cryptocurrency mixers such as Tornado Cash, which was sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Asset Control in August.

According to reports, the infamous mixer handled $137.6 million in cryptocurrency via NFT platforms and was “the laundering instrument of choice” for the bulk of schemes.

It’s uncertain how close the estimates above were to the real worth of crypto and NFTs used in scams, given many go unreported or are discovered after the fact. Elliptic reported more than 2,000 NFTs taken in April 2022, with an approximate worth of $20 million, however, the bogus airdrop targeting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT holders accounted for tens of millions of dollars stolen at the time.

According to Elliptic statistics, fraudsters withdrew $58.1 million in Ape NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club in July 2022.

“Across June and July 2022, thefts of valuable NFTs decreased while those affecting lower value early-stage projects rose,” said Elliptic. “This trend likely partially reflects valuable NFT owners “hodling” their assets throughout the bear market and not engaging as actively with new projects vulnerable to scammer activity.”

Scammers continue to utilize a number of tactics to defraud crypto users of their NFTs, including phishing assaults, marketplace vulnerabilities, and others. The tokens were recently the subject of a class-action lawsuit, which has the potential to alter how the Securities and Exchange Commission views crypto assets as securities.

All in all more than $100 million worth of NFTs were stolen since 2021, which is shocking.

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