NFT influencer “NFT God” has crypto wallet wiped out by malware in Google Ads

The well-known NFT influencer “NFT God” took to Twitter on January 14, 2023, to reveal a devastating hack that targeted his digital assets, including his crypto wallet and multiple online accounts.

Alex, as he’s also called, was trying to get a program that lets you stream videos online called OBS. He used Google’s search engine to find the website, but instead of clicking on the official one, he clicked on a sponsored ad that looked like the real thing.

It wasn’t until hours later that Alex realized of the attack after phishing tweets were posted on his Twitter accounts.

Alex was hit with a double whammy when he received a message from an acquaintance alerting him that his crypto wallet had been compromised. The next day, the attacker broke into his Substack account and sent fake emails to all his 16,000 followers.

Where are the assets now?

Blockchain records reveal that they stole at least 19 Ether, which is equivalent to nearly $27,000 (according to CoinMarketCap data on Jan 16, 2023). They also stole a really valuable Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT worth 16 ETH (25,000 dollars) and a few other NFTs.

Moving most of the ETH across multiple wallets, the hacker sent the assets to FixedFloat (DEX), where he exchanged the assets for unknown cryptocurrencies.

Alex admitted to uploading his seed phrase online, which made it possible for hackers to steal his crypto and NFTs. He had set up his hardware wallet as a “hot” wallet instead of keeping it offline or “cold.” 

Another Google incident

It’s not the first time that bad people have used Google Ads to trick people into giving away their digital money.

Cybersecurity company Cyble issued a warning on January 12, 2023, about a sneaky malware called “Rhadamanthys Stealer” that’s spreading through Google Ads and looks extremely convincing. 

Binance CEO CZ Zhao warned in Oct 2022 of fake websites disguised as Google ads.

According to Google’s help center, the company is actively working to prevent malware in ads by collaborating with trustworthy advertisers and partners.

They also use their own advanced technology and malware detection tools to frequently scan ads on Google.