CreatureToadz NFT Theft

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CreatureToadz

CreatureToadz was a popular NFT project. Using a WebHook, Discord users were redirected to a fake mint page, which convinced them to send funds to the attacker.

After being tracked down, the attacker returned the funds and had a lengthy interview.

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

About CreatureToadz

"8,888 CreatureToadz out CROAKing in the wild!" "I'm a lifelong designer and visual artist that has an unhealthy obsession with colors. CreatureToadz is my love letter to crypto - years of passion built up from the sidelines. I hope you love it as much as I do."

"CreatureToadz is the first crossover project between two successful NFT communities, Creatures and CrypToadz. The art was made from scratch to ensure perfect stylistic marriage between the two." "No details were spared, I poured my soul into bringing these species together."

"As the first true crossover project between two breakout NFT projects, CreatureToadz will serve as a testament for the potential of NFTs to bring communities together. As such, we will play a role in the evolution of NFTs and community building."

"On October 19, 2021 CreatureToadz NFT discord moderator account was compromised using an unidentifed technique involving screen sharing and a leaked Webhook URL. The compromised account was used to direct users to a phishing site and steal $300K worth of ETH."

"The scammer used a Webhook to create a URL to send msgs to the Discord." "[W]hat we speculate is that it was more than likely an operational error (by a moderator) in which a hacker was able to configure a way to access the Discord through a phishing webhook via a shared screen. A (non-phishing) webhook is a reverse API that sends data to the Discord - for example: If you want tweets sent to a Discord channel you can create a webhook for that."

"A scammer had taken control of the CT discord, posted fake announcements luring ppl to a scam website were they could mint their nft. However the site actually stole their ETH." "Nobody's account needs to be compromised to do a "hack" like @CreatureToadz's. All that happened was a webhook URL leaked. With a Discord webhook, you can post any message on any channel. It is considerably easier to leak this URL than an entire account."

"The Webhook+scam .NET site template seems to originate from a Discord community named 'BabyGoth's BLA'." "The scam was possible because WebHooks were enabled on mod level or higher. This allowed the scammer to send the fake announcements."

"One of the moderators got compromised. We trusted him, he's a moderator in many Discord servers. And, as a new community, we needed help. Here's a screenshot of the audit log. This happened in several other discords tonite."

"Amazingly, while hosting a Twitter Spaces chat, moderators identified the attacker who was also in the chat and gave a lengthy interview."

"From what we understand the hacker was able to announce a mint page to the entire Creature Toadz Discord and the community rushed to mint on a fake address not knowing that it was a fake mint URL." "The ppl that were tricked still had to approve the Tx though." "Around 90 ETH was taken during this Discord hack."

"@VGF.eth & myself started tracking the scammer's wallet, which let to multiple other wallets, which were funded through a crypto exchange. VGF found his ROBLOX account & found his twitter account. Wombo-combo, great teamwork."

"This hack has been planned for around 20-30 days. It has been made known that the hacker's first transaction is through Binance (which you have to use a social security number through) and there are multiple people who know who the hacker is so the chickens are coming home to roost soon."

"After finding his twitter account I quoted his one (and only) tweet in Spaces. The tweet was an obviously troll tweet saying that once [he] "got his 100k bag he'd stop j*rking off". This seemed insignificant to share but" "Approx. 10 mins later that tweet was deleted from that twitter! Which indicated to me that the scammer was most likely in the Spaces w/ us. Listening to what we were doing"

"Realizing this I spoke directly to him, I said something along the lines: "If you're here. PLZ return the funds. That DeFi hacker that stole 600mill, returned it all, so can you. You can still return the 87.7E. Do the right thing."

"The attacker promptly returned all of the stolen funds after the discovery." "In an insane turn of events, the hacker has returned all the money he stole!!! This is one of the craziest nights of my life. All the affected will be refunded fully in ETH."

"It was a long shot. But within the hour he returned ALL THE $ETH to the creator @skiranoETH. Not saying my little speech convinced him. Likely he was scared shitless for the consequences. Still the result is the same, ppl got their money back! Which is what matters :)"

"After the stolen funds were returned I spoke out to him again. I said that I'd like to hear his side of the story & why he returned the funds. "DM me if you're here. Let me know if you want to come up and speak. I won't dox you"."

"He DM'd me using the twitter account we found earlier. He came up & shared his pov: It was all a joke, he was bored, he was gonna return the stolen funds all along."

"After the hack, the attacker decided it was a good idea to jump into a Twitter space with journalist Andrew Wang. In the Spaces, the NFT community discovered that the hacker was a 17-year-old teen who had school tomorrow and explained that one of the reasons he did it was because he was bored. Because the hacker also used a lot of offensive language during the hosted Twitter spaces Andrew Wang commented on the Twitter Spaces, saying, “I just wanted to apologize again to anyone who was hurt or offended by the spaces tonight. It was a situation I never expected to handle.”"

"HEERR, whose real name is still unknown, joined in as a speaker and incriminated himself for the Discord hack. Claiming to be a 17-year-old high school male student, the hacker said, “it was a joke,” and that the original plan was to return the funds."

"OKHotshot told Crypto Briefing that he did not believe the hacker did this as a joke or a mere stunt." He said that “claiming innocence is the only way out to avoid legal troubles” before adding that he was “going to nail his real-world identity regardless of their admittance.”

"The creator joined & was understandably upset. But since the scammer returned the funds he said he won't press charges. AFAIK it was the first time that a scammer & project creator were in a spaces talking like this."

"Credit to @VGFreakXBL @andrwwang and other community members for making this possible. The funds were recovered. A bad thing happened, then a good thing happened."

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 - CreatureToadz NFT Theft

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

Technical Details

This section includes specific detailed technical analysis of any security breaches which happened. What specific software vulnerabilities contributed to the problem and how were they exploited?

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $300,000 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

The total amount recovered has been estimated at $300,000 USD.

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?

General 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.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.