NBA Top Shot Discord Phishing

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NBA Top Shot

NBA Top Shots is a collectible platform where users can purchase NFTs representing game-changing moments in basketball games, with an official license arrangement with the NBA. On the evening of October 19th, the discord channel was attacked via a webhook and a malicious link was placed on the channel. Those who visited thought they were getting a great deal on NFTs when in reality they were sending their money to a scammer. In total, 14.4 ETH was taken. There do not appear to be any signs of recovery or assistance for affected users.

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

About NBA Top Shot

"An NFT is a one-of-a-kind, non-fungible, cryptographic token representing a unique digital asset for which there is no copy or substitute. An NFT cannot be substituted for another NFT as each NFT is distinctive and unique in some way. An NFT is not a medium of exchange and is not convertible virtual currency."

"NBA Top Shot is a first-of-its-kind collectible game that allows people to collect, trade, and sell their favorite NBA highlights as digital tokens. These highlights can be collected to complete timed challenges, arranged into showcases, and eventually carried over into the forthcoming game experience!" "NBA Top Shot is the home for NBA fans to collect Moment™ NFTs of their favorite stars and team. Moments are Online Digital Collectibles, or NFTs, of a player's highlight." "Each moment is secured by the blockchain, meaning your Moment is Unique and Licensed by the NBA and NBPA."

"Signature moves, game-winning shots, jaw-dropping blocks, unbelievable jump-out-of-your-seat plays. When you build your NBA Top Shot collection, you get to own and show off the highlights that matter." "Collect the Moments from this year's recognized NBA stars. Build a collection of Moments from players you think will be rising stars next season!" "It's a new era in fandom. And it's about more than repping your favorite teams and players. For the first time, you can own the NBA's greatest highlights. Ready? You can get your first pack instantly."

"NBA Top Shot is a crypto-collectible consumers can purchase as a non-fungible token (NFT). Each collectible is tied to a blockchain -- a digital ledger similar to the blockchains used for digital currencies like bitcoin. This effectively gives each NFT a unique and non-hackable certificate of authenticity. So even if somebody makes a perfect copy of the highlight video, it will instantly be recognizable as a fake."

"Each Limited Edition collectible is marked at cration with a unique serial number, with guaranteed scarcity and protected ownership guaranteed by the blockchain. When you own #23/49 of a legendary LeBron James dunk, you're the only person in the world who does-unless you choose to trade or sell that Moment to another collector. NBA Top Shot is an officially licenced collectible of the NBA and the NBPA, with the history of each Moment verified forever on-chain."

"The scammer used a Webhook to create a URL to send msgs to the Discord." "The 19th @CreatureToadz & NBA Topshots got hacked the same way: WebHook+namecheap sites." "[A]t 9:05pm EST NBA Topshot discord announced an NFT mint on etherium for .2 ETH with a link to click. However the link was malicious."

"Creat[ur]eToadz wasn't the first to get hacked this way. IMX Bears, MaskByte were targeted before Toadz. NBA topshots was targeted the same day as Creat[ur]eToadz."

"NBA Topshots, MaskByte, and other NFT discord projects were compromised in a similar fashion."

"As of 9:09, the official Top Shot Discord says "The Discord entry is currently closed."

"14.4 ETH stolen jeez."

This is a global/international case not involving a specific country.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - NBA Top Shot Discord Phishing

Date	Event	Description
October 19th, 2021 8:05:00 PM	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $56,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

Prevention Policies

Never click links directly from a discord channel. Always go through the official website.

Projects need to pick their moderator teams with care, train them, and not give them any unnecessary permission levels. Greater education for all new investors would help reduce the risks of similar attacks.