Technology is always vulnerable for being attacked by hackers, so does the blockchain algorithms. The first half of 2022 has reported an array of blockchain hack attacks, particularly in the non-fungible tokens field. The most recent hack targeted at NFTs happened on July causing a loss of 300+ digital assets worth $400K in Ethereum. It, in return, proposes a question whether blockchain technology safe or it is because users are too naive to believe the technology. The former will be hard to defined cause it belongs a macro aspect that common market participants can barely understand. On the other hand, the latter can be solved by acquiring more information for themselves and be more cautious of the signals before things go out of control. Let’s become more alerted with <a href="https://www.builder.news/" alt="Builder.news" title="Builder.news" target="_blank" rel="" class="">Builder.news</a> about NFT hacks.<img src="https://cdn.builder.news/news/11ed0bf3f9f4be55a8e6023f659fee92.jpg" alt="NFT hacks" title="NFT hacks" width="600" height="334"><h2>Recent hack and its mechanism</h2>Since the introduction to the market, the NFT is always believed to be a fruitful market for scammers. Just in 2021, the digital asset’s transaction made 25 billion in sales, which proves the long-lasting heat over other blockchain’s fields. Where has more money, there are thrives. Frauders is unpreventable no matter how hard developers from service platforms are trying. As a result, in Feb 2022, there was a report of an NFT’s hack worth over $1.7m as a result of a phishing scam on <a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/an-ultimate-guide-on-how-to-use-opensea-nft-marketplace-bnLVW" alt="An ultimate guide on how to use OpenSea NFT marketplace" title="An ultimate guide on how to use OpenSea NFT marketplace" target="_blank" rel="" class="">OpenSea</a> - one of the most prosperous NFT marketplaces overall. Continuously, $2.8 million NFT heist occurred in April as a result of a hack into the Instagram account of Bored Ape Yacht Club. A stolen Bored Ape NFT that actor Seth Green intended to use as the focal point of a forthcoming television series was recovered last month for roughly $300,000. After all, people are increasing their alert levels and the situation seemed to be better till July.On July 17th, hackers broke into the well-known NFT registration platform, Premint, and made off with 320 stolen NFTs worth more than $400,000 in profit. The popular collections <a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/legendary-nft-collection-bored-ape-yacht-club" alt="Bored Ape Yacht Club - The legendary NFT collection of all time " title="Bored Ape Yacht Club - The legendary NFT collection of all time " target="_blank" rel="" class="">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a>, Otherside, <a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/moonbirds-nft" alt="Moonbirds NFT: Owls don't sleep" title="Moonbirds NFT: Owls don't sleep" target="_blank" rel="" class="">Moonbirds</a>, Oddities, and <a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/what-makes-the-world-head-to-goblintown-nft-1jX4L" alt="What makes the world head to Goblintown NFT?" title="What makes the world head to Goblintown NFT?" target="_blank" rel="" class="">Goblintown</a> were among the stolen NFTs. After obtaining these NFTs, the hackers started selling them right away on platforms like OpenSea; one stolen Bored Ape brought in 89 ETH, or around $132,000, for its owner. According to CertiK, a famous blockchain security company, the hackers have so far kept hold of 18 unsold NFTs. They then sent the money to a site called Tornado Cash, which combines and mixes the cryptocurrency deposits of multiple users, effectively erasing the digital traces that blockchain transactions generally leave behind. The service offered by cybercriminals is frequently used by crypto criminals to “clean and clear” their scam records.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Last night, a file was manipulated on PREMINT by an unknown third party that led to users being presented with a wallet connection that was malicious.— PREMINT | NFT Access List Tool (@PREMINT_NFT) <a href="https://twitter.com/PREMINT_NFT/status/1548732974769655808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2022</a></blockquote>With such a huge amount of cryptocurrency being stolen, people can’t stop worrying about how the scam actions were taking place. Generally speaking, NFT scams are widely noticed to the mass cause the scammers will keep using the common scam practice over and over. The difference from hacks and hacks is the timing.In the middle of the crypto turmoil, <a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/despite-the-markets-crash-the-world-is-heading-to-nfts-PMWWe" alt="Despite the market's crash, the world is heading to NFTs" title="Despite the market's crash, the world is heading to NFTs" target="_blank" rel="" class="">people are finding doors to escape by investing in NFTs</a>, which is believed to be non-stop waves to generate “more” value. They tend to losen their caution while accessing marketplaces to acquire new NFTs, especially in the context of rising trend of “freemint” NFTs.Back to the Premint’s hack case, also according to CertiK, the stealing method was using malicious JavaScript code. Apparently as an additional security step, hackers built a pop-up within the website that asked visitors to confirm their ownership of their wallet. This is considered a very common and “unlikely to happen to me cause I am careful” fraud trick. Following their swift realization that the pop-up was fraudulent, numerous users immediately took to Twitter and Discord to alert others not to follow its directions. However, the hackers had already tricked a number of Premint clients in a matter of minutes.<img src="https://cdn.builder.news/news/11ed0bf3f9f4c523a8e6023f659fee92.jpg" alt="Premint hack" title="Premint hack" width="600" height="502"><h2>Does “freemint” do more harm than good?</h2>Not ever since Goblintown.wtf re-introduced an old term “freemint”, the fact the <a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/top-freemint-nft-projects-on-twitter" alt="Top freemint NFT projects on Twitter" title="Top freemint NFT projects on Twitter" target="_blank" rel="" class="">minting NFTs for free</a> was not really having a huge impact on NFT enthusiasts’ decision. On a common basis, people will first studying the project while listening to news about it to make precise decisions before paying any gas fees plus mint fees to own a desired digital asset. Not to mention a group of low-quality NFT collections that slide on dump lines forever, the rest will, at least, have something for expectation.However, when #freemint are on Twitter’s trending, there is an unlimited amount of projects claims freeminting which triggers investors to having “priceless” NFTs. One of the most notable collections had “quite” a huge number of Twitter followers at the begining, Critters Town, seems to disappoint Critter’s owners by the fact that the price keeps plunging right on the first day of listing on OpenSea. Despite having no minting fees, exclusive NFT giveaway and rather modest amount of gas fees from 0.005 ETH, Critters had no leverage to keep its 0.01 ETH price for the following days. Now, the floor price recorded on OpenSea is completely divided by 100 times to 0.0001 ETH per NFT.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The mission “Save Earth” is now a success! All critters are now captured and secured. What next? More exciting news for holders is coming soon. We are giving away 1 critter to someone who interacts with this tweet!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFTGiveaway?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFTGiveaway</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFTCommunity?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFTCommunity</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NFTs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NFTs</a> <a href="https://t.co/xa2tVa5X9t">pic.twitter.com/xa2tVa5X9t</a>— Critters Town (@critterstownnft) <a href="https://twitter.com/critterstownnft/status/1545471512156983297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 8, 2022</a></blockquote><h2>What can people do to be more cautious?</h2>Although freemint NFTs is not the direct reason for Premint’s recent hack, the fact discussed above proposes a different point of view. It proves that things can be achieved easily can hardly be long-lasting. Also, there are always threats surrounding their “advantages”, particularly, every action on cryptocurrency’s transaction requires access to their wallets such as Metamask.Freemint NFT projects, retroactive airdrops or test-nest program are significantly intriguing for hungry market participants who are, in return, likely to be more vulnerable to the hack attacks. One possible solution for them is just being more careful in <a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/filtering-information-before-investing-in-nfts" alt="Filtering information before investing in NFTs" title="Filtering information before investing in NFTs" target="_blank" rel="" class="">filtering NFT project</a> they are going to take part in any of its campaigns. If there are any signs of abnormal requirements of privacy entry, step back and double check the project for their legit before hitting “submit” button.Besides, common NFT scams are always noticed on mainstream media that anyone can easily access to. Their decisions can be made more carefully after reading one of those tips. Equipping themselves with information is never enough, especially in the context of new fraud methods keep being introduced to the market.&gt;&gt;&gt; Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.builder.news/crypto-insights/top-nft-scams-and-how-to-spot-them-hOWve" alt="Top NFT scams and how to spot them" title="Top NFT scams and how to spot them" target="_blank" rel="" class="">Top NFT scams and how to spot them</a>Moreover, be extremely careful of NFT communities cause they are also in scammer’s target. Yuga Labs - the development company empowered the high-end NFT project like BAYC and APE said that the company's security team has tracked a group of hackers who are targeting the NFT community, urging investors to be extremely careful.<h2>Bottom lines</h2>NFTs are said to be a ever-growing to yield investors’ income with extraordinary values that coins can hardly do. Yet, the fact that the field is being attacked by hackers impose a problem that any investors should step back and take a deep breath before making scammers richer and richer. The case of Premint is just a case study for people who are naively keep providing their information without second thoughts. Being more alerted will be one of the most effective method to prevent this from keeping happening.<div class="pr-block-special">Disclaimer This article is intended for and only to be used for reference purposes only. No such information provided constitutes advice or a recommendation that any investment or trading strategy is suitable for any specific name.</div>

Premint hack proposes a fear in future fraud cases, what can you do to prevent this from happening?

Why there are more NFT hacks and how you should react to it