Rare Bears Scam Account
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The Rare Bears NFTs are a set of NFT bears made by a New Zealand artist Enox. A scam account was posting some links and successfully scammed at least one user out of $2k worth of assets.
About Rare Bears
Rare Bears describes their NFTs in detail on their website[1].
"The Rare Bears are taking over. They’re cute and sweet, but tough and street. The Bears have a cool retro vibe mixed with a futuristic cyber tone. They’re all about street art, graffiti, music, tech, fashion, and a few old-school video games. They’re down to cuddle once in a while, but if you cross a Bear it’s bad news. The Rare Bears are your ticket into the BearVerse with the most vibrant community around. More NFTs will drop, collabs will happen and more mediums will be explored. We’re bearly getting started." "Official is an NFT collection that was created on March 09, 2022." "Iain Spanhake A.K.A Enox is a professional digital artist from New Zealand." "The Rare Bears are 2,347 unique NFTs from digital artist, Enox. The first collection released in March 2022 and our upcoming Mare Bear collection will be dropping in the second half of the year."
On April 5th, 2022, an announcement appeared on the Rare Bears Discord channel[2].
"We are planning to expand all the way around the world, while doing so we will need you to follow us through this ride, you are now able to obtain our rarest bears early with a presale now available. Goodluck bears." "PRESALE IS LIVE NOW !"
The Reality
The announcement was not a real mint and was posted by phishing scammers.
What Happened
The RareBears team posted an announcement about the attack on April 5th, 2022.
| Date | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| April 5th, 2022 12:43:00 AM | Twitter Announcement | The RareBears team posts their announcement on Twitter. |
| April 16th, 2022 2:30:00 AM | New Roadmap | The RareBears team shares their new roadmap. |
| May 7th, 2022 10:00:00 AM | Sentimental Post | The RareBears Twitter posts "As a community, we've been through the ringer. We've gone through what could be any other project's worst nightmare. But we've risen to meet adversity and emerged on the other side stronger, more fired up, & with more conviction than ever! Don't bet against the bears." |
Total Amount Lost
At least $2k of losses were reported by Twitter user @lord_IY:
"[S]ad. 2k fallen victims already[.]"
The total amount lost has been estimated at $2,000 USD.
Immediate Reactions
The RareBears Twitter @BearsRare posted an announcement after
"THIS IS A SCAM ACCOUNT!! Please report them and DO NOT click the links to their FAKE "presale". Only ever use our official links. Keep your wallets safe bears."
Twitter user @lord_IY called the situation "sad".
Twitter user @PurplePopRocks had the idea that victims should be to blame and deserve their losses:
"If [your] dumb followers fall for that again a month after mint they deserve to lose the money they already did once after mint for pure greed[.]"
Ultimate Outcome
The RareBears team hired Shane specifically to help with their Discord management.
"We are SO excited to have Shane @lunnietunesNFT as part of the Rare Bears team. He is a lawyer based in Singapore, with a background in law and communications. He looks after Discord management/communications and social media outreach. Let's all welcome him to the #BearFam!"
Total Amount Recovered
There does not appear to be any attempt to assist users who were affected in this case.
There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.
Ongoing Developments
The RareBears team hired a new team member named Shane specifically to help with their social media management on April 12th.
"We are SO excited to have Shane @lunnietunesNFT as part of the Rare Bears team. He is a lawyer based in Singapore, with a background in law and communications. He looks after Discord management/communications and social media outreach. Let's all welcome him to the #BearFam!"
They posted a new roadmap April 16th:
"We're coming back stronger than ever. If you haven't seen our Roadmap 2.0 here's a few highlights. new leadership. new utility & holder perks. utility token ecosystem. holders only merch. Factions. Mare Bears. We are excited!"
They've also been posting encouragement to their community such as the following:
"As a community, we've been through the ringer. We've gone through what could be any other project's worst nightmare. But we've risen to meet adversity and emerged on the other side stronger, more fired up, & with more conviction than ever! Don't bet against the bears."
Prevention Policies
In this case, users should be careful to ensure that all minting links come from the official team behind a project.
Exchange platforms can serve to validate that minting links are from the real source, and reduce the likelihood of successful phishing attacks.
A treasury can be set aside to assist victims with proven losses.
References
- ↑ Rare Bears – Rare Bears NFT collection from digital artist, Enox (Jul 14)
- ↑ @BearsRare Twitter (Jan 29)
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