Scammers Steal $100K From Multiple Pudgy Penguins NFT Holders In A Phishing Attack

Updated: 11 December 2023

Disclosure

Don’t invest unless prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, you shouldn’t expect to be protected if something goes wrong.

Crypto frauds and scams have significantly risen in recent weeks, with some of the most valuable and popular non-fungible token collections being among the heavily targeted. In a recent incident, scammers have drained thousands of dollars from multiple Pudgy Penguins NFT holders in phishing attacks.

Multiple Penguins Drained Over $100K In A Phishing Attack

In a December 11 blog post, Beau, the community safety lead at Pudgy Penguins, confirmed that several Pudgy Penguins NFT holders had lost at least six figures worth of crypto in a phishing attack. The NFT holders in the subject were tricked by fake Luca Netz and Pudgy Penguins accounts on X, formerly Twitter.

🚨Multiple Penguins got scammed today and lost at least 6 figures🚨

You need to get safe NOW.

They were tricked by fake @LucaNetz and @pudgypenguins accounts. We’re always on alert for impersonators and report/submit takedown requests often within minutes of them popping up.…

— Beau (@beausecurity) December 11, 2023

Established in July 2021, Pudgy Penguins is one of the most successful projects in the nascent non-fungible token sector. The crypto project is renowned for its Pudgy Penguins, an NFT collection featuring 8,888 unique cartoon cute penguins. Besides Pudgy Penguins NFTs, there are 22,222 Lil Pudgys NFTs that are part of the Pudgy Penguins ecosystem.

The NFT project is under the leadership of Luca Netz, who serves as the company’s chief executive officer. Under Luca Netz’s stewardship, Pudgy Penguins has continued to operate and grow its community and ecosystem to greater heights.

Earlier this year, the Pudgy Penguins team launched its new “Phygital” Toy Collection and NFT experience on e-commerce giant Amazon. At the time, the NFT collection Pudgy Penguins saw explosive interest and sales volume, raising over 500,000 in just two days.

In October, the Pudgy Penguins team extended its NFT-inspired toys to 2,000 Walmart stores across the United States. That same day, Pudgy Penguins’ trading volume surged over 1000% from just 178 ETH the previous day to 627 ETH. Since then, its daily trading volumes have remained consistently above 250 ETH.

Last month, Pudgy Penguins further extended its non-fungible token-inspired toys to select Hot Topic stores. Hot Topic Stores is an American retail chain specializing in counterculture-related clothing, toys, and accessories. Pudgy Penguins Toys are now available in the UK, Asia, USA, and Canada. Pudgy Penguins’ exponential success has made them vulnerable to scammers.

Beau Urges Users To Remain Vigilant This Festive Season

Before summarizing, Beau has called on the Pudgy Penguins community to remain vigilant this season. He has urged users to avoid navigating the web3 website because of a link they saw on X. The community safety lead has also encouraged users to use multiple wallets and tools, such as Delegate, Warm, and more, to delegate permissions to a hot wallet.