An exhibition of works by the artist Bansky in Rome, Italy.
Samantha Zucchi | Insidefoto | Mondadori portfolio through Getty Images
Street artist Banksy’s website briefly directed users to an auction of a digital work of art that sold for more than $ 300,000. The problem? It was not authentic.
A website added to Banksy’s website on Tuesday showed an image with an avatar that resembles one of the many NFT collectibles known as CryptoPunks.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique cryptographic tokens designed to represent ownership of a rare digital element, such as art objects or sports. Sales of this type of digital asset have risen to all-time highs this year thanks to growing interest in both cryptocurrencies and collectibles.
You can think of an NFT as a digital property receipt. Buyers of the tokens do indeed possess a certificate of authenticity to say that they own the original item, but this does not grant them copyright and other Internet users can view the media for free.
Anyone who clicks on Banksy NFT’s website on Tuesday would be directed to a link for an auction of a collectible called “Great Redistribution of the Climate Change Disaster”. The page was added to Banksy’s site on Tuesday morning and subsequently deleted, prompting speculation that the site may have been hacked.
A website added on Tuesday to Banksy’s website linked to an NFT called “Great Redistribution of the Climate Change Disaster.”
Elliptical
The listing, released on the OpenSea marketplace, soon ended with the sale by NFT of 100 ethereum tokens, worth about $ 336,000 at the time.
Inauthentic
Banksy’s agency, Pest Control, confirmed that the pseudonymous graphic designer did not create NFT, but did not comment on whether Banksy’s website was hacked.
“Artist Banksy has not created any NFT artwork,” Pest Control told CNBC Tuesday by email. “Any Banksy NFT auction is not affiliated with the artist in any form or form.”
With a strange twist, all the money was later returned to the buyer, an anonymous man named pseudonym “Pranksy.”
“My ETH from buying #Banksy #NFT just returned to me, an ethical hacker proving a point?” Pranksy tweeted on Tuesday.
“Just to add a comment, to those who consider this to have been a kind of wrap. I would never risk having a future relationship with Banksy or any good artist by hiring someone to hack their website and then buy- me an #NFT. an unusual day! “
The man had previously told the BBC that an anonymous user let him know the NFT on the social chat app Discord and that he suspects that person may have hacked Banksy’s site.
“It’s unclear if this episode was the work of a hacker, or perhaps a pre-planned work of art by Banksy himself,” blockchain analytics provider Elliptic said Tuesday.
Scammers exploit NFTs
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity specialist at Internet security firm ESET, said NFTs were still in their “childhood stage,” meaning they are “guaranteed to attract” cybercrime and scammers.
“Buying in verified locations is vital, but unfortunately this advice is flawed as soon as the genuine website is hacked,” Moore told CNBC. “Potential buyers should remain largely skeptical about NFTs while they are in these early stages, as they can be easily exploited and always err on the side of caution.”
“Scammers are very good at manipulating people and the composition of NFTs lends itself to being further abused by the lack of a physical product or service,” Moore added.