05/01/2022 Thieves Steal Gallery Owner’s Multimillion-Dollar NFT Collection: ‘All My Apes Gone’

ape wearing a star studded helmet
Bored Ape Yacht Club, #9410, 2021Opensea

“I have been hacked. All my apes gone. This just sold please help me,” wrote gallery ownerTodd Kramer, of New York’s Ross + Kramer Gallery, in a since-deletedtweetposted on December 30.

A phishing scam had drained his Ethereum wallet of 15NFTsvalued at a total of $2.2 million, including four apes from the “Bored Ape Yacht Club” collection. The thief seemed to have sold off many of the pieces in Kramer’s collection, and Twitter users jeered at Kramer’s bad luck, pointing out that he had bet on an unregulated, decentralized system that would be unable to help him.

“Man If only there had been some kind of Regulating authority in place that could like Insure your investments against theft and fraud,” wrote one user with the handle @anarchy_shark.

But in the end, an authority did come through. With the help of the buyers and the NFT platform OpenSea, Kramer was able to get back several of his NFTs. Five hours after his original post, he wrote, in a tweet that has also since been deleted, “Update.. All Apes are frozen,,. Waiting for opensea team to get in,,,lessons learned. Use a hard wallet…”

OpenSea’s involvement sparked major controversy, with some alleging that NFTs could not truly be decentralized if it had “frozen” some, rendering them unsellable on the platform. Others pointed out that OpenSea had only frozen user’s ability to interact with the NFT through that one site alone—they could still be bought and sold elsewhere.

Neither OpenSea nor Kramer responded to requests for comment.

Phishing scams have become more frequent as NFTs have increased in value. However, most savvy users can protect themselves by using hard wallet, also known as a cold wallet, which is physical and only connects to the internet when plugged in and engaged. Kramer had been using a so-called hot wallet, which is continuously connected to the internet and thus more vulnerable.

More common than phishing scams, however, is theft of a different kind. Some people have begun making NFTs of art that they did not create, an issue for which no easy fix has yet been developed.

Arts

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/todd-kramer-nft-theft-1234614874/

Interesting NFTs
Smile to Shreds, Neon Gwen
The First KayPikeFashion Mint Ever. Ever feel so joyful and were grinning so hard you felt you could split in half? That punk rebel yell of glee when you pull of a particularly refined stunt? This is the paint of dreams, fangs and neon. Hellish and hard to pull off. I was able to with this work quietly paint a sweet inner tale of childhood influences, rat fink and autobody shops. All while pretending to paint gwenom for the audience. More on that in bonus material. This is my alternate animation made specifically for crypto art collectors. It will only ever exist in this format. You get the Shiny, unused in media verified image. More on that in the bonus material. Mixed Media: Bio/Digital. Glycerin on 5'9" human skin 10-14 hours Performance art. Shot on Canon EOS RP. 16 + hours Photoshop and DaVinci Resolve. All Works are SFW. Art has been Seen on the front page of Reddit, Featured in the New York Times, Galileo.tv, and multiple other promotions including Twitch.tv, Disney Interactive, RIOT games, WB games, AMD and more! More on how this art is unique and potentially explosive in the NFT world: https://youtu.be/CXbNF2Y6srs ------------------------- The purchase of this NFT Grants the buyer unique bonus material. Physical Mail Bonus Package: A verified physical Art Print. Autographed from the artist in 12x16. Please allow a few weeks for delivery. Digital Bonus Package: This image in .mp4. An "About the Art" Video and an "From the Artist" introduction. A README.txt about the artwork with some personal notes and Links relevant to the artwork.
Fidenza #547
Fidenza is by far my most versatile algorithm to date. Although the program stays focused on structured curves and blocks, the varieties of scale, organization, texture, and color usage it can employ create a wide array of generative possibilities. Additional project feature(s) => Scale:Jumbo, Turbulence:Med, Colors:Luxe, Have Margin:No, Spiral:No, Soft Shapes:No, Super Blocks:Yes, Collision Check:No Overlap, Outlined:No, Shape Angles:Curved, Density:High
Swifty Whixy
Shalom! I'm Swifty Whixy. All you need to know about me is I hate wet food with a passion. My friends describe me as "fabulous." It's... accurate. I think you'll love me beclaws I have cattitude.
Lovers and unravelled obi, from the series Picture-book Models of Couples
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) Lovers and unravelled obi, from the series Picture-book Models of Couples 1812 - Japan
Crypto Toy Coin
This piece represents the creation of a new "Visual Toy", a term created by me to encompass my unique and exclusive GIF-Arts. The latter, "Crypto Toy Coin" is the only and first in the cryptocurrency theme. In it I represent the fast-paced world of finance in the virtual environment, the Internet with its universe of colors and infinite visual impact, an optimistic and exciting future, a world of possibilities that opens before us. These "Visual Toys" invite you to imagine, that is their function, that is the game. The ultimate goal is that you imagine, that it is you who gives it meaning. There are no good or bad answers, just the projection of each one. I've only created the trigger, the piece where you can project your imagination and let it fly.