An unknown hacker stole NFTs from Hollywood actor Bill Murray’s wallet on Thursday. The perpetrator behind the attack, who has not been verified, attempted to steal the actor’s collection of non-fungible tokens.
According to a CoinDesk report, the hacker stole the funds from Murray’s personal wallet moments after the actor’s NFT action raised 119.2 Ethereum (around $185,000) for a charity auction. Though the hacker tried to steal some of the artworks from the actor’s wallet account, his security team stopped the attack before it could do any more damage.
Murray’s wallet security team from NFT consultant Project Venkman managed to secure the NFTs by transferring them to a safer location. On being notified about the unauthorized access, the consultant team intervened by transferring expensive JPEGs to two safehouse wallets, including a Damien Hirst NFT, two CryptoPunks, a Pudgy Penguin, a Cool Cat, and countless Flower Girls.
Hackers tried stealing NFT collection
Additionally, the hacker also attempted to take 800 NFTs from Bill Murray’s collection in his wallet, but the security company claimed to have stopped this attempt by relocating those NFTs to a safe house. According to Project Venkman, they executed a script that instantly relocated all of Murray’s NFTs to a secure wallet.
A spokesman from the security agency confirmed that the actor donated 119.2 Ethereum (around $185,000) for a charity auction, which the hacker stole. The hacker then transferred the stolen money from Murray’s account to a wallet address connected with two popular cryptocurrency agencies — Unionchain.ai and Binance.
Another bidder donates the amount
After the alleged stolen crypto, the original Ethereum, which was supposed to be donated to the charity, was lost and a second-placed bidder came forward to donate the rest of the amount. According to reports, Coinbase user ‘Mishap72’ donated 120 Ethereum (or about $187,500) to Chive Charities to make up for the mission currency initially promised by Bill Murray’s team.
Post the incident, Murray’s team filed a report to the police and is now collaborating with crypto analytics company Chainalysis to find the hacker.
The incident serves as a reminder that even well-known and popular celebrities can also become targets of cyber attacks and hackers. Bill Murray, however, was fortunate to have a wallet security team that kept him safe from the worst of the tragedy.
