BAYC Says Discord Briefly Compromised, Tells Users to Avoid Discord for Minting APE NFTs

A ticket tool on Discord was briefly compromised and caught by the BAYC team in early Asian hours on Friday. It also affected other NFT projects.

AccessTimeIconApr 1, 2022 at 7:32 a.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:29 p.m. UTC
10 Years of Decentralizing the Future
May 29-31, 2024 - Austin, TexasThe biggest and most established global hub for everything crypto, blockchain and Web3.Register Now

The official channel of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) on the popular messaging service Discord was hit by a malicious tool that intended to trick users into minting fake non-fungible tokens (NFT) from the popular Bored Ape collection, the company said in a tweet on Friday.

  • “Do not mint anything from any Discord right now. A webhook in our Discord was briefly compromised,” BAYC said in a tweet. “We caught it immediately but please know: we are not doing any April Fools stealth mints/airdrops etc.”
  • Security researchers said a ticket tool that verifies users and pushes channel-wide notifications was compromised. Clicking on the malicious links that enticed users to mint a limited edition NFT would lead to an illicit script that could steal a user’s NFTs and other wallet information, researchers said.
  • Several other NFT-centric Discord servers, such as Doodles, Shamanzs, and Nyoki, that use the same tool saw similar phishing messages, pseudonymous blockchain research ‘zachxbt’ pointed out.
  • BAYC’s Discord channel is closed to new members at the time of writing. A single NFT from BAYC’s Mutant Ape collection has been stolen thus far.
  • ApeCoin (APE), the token linked to BAYC, fell 8.3% in the past 24 hours amid a broader drop in the crypto market. Bitcoin (BTC) briefly lost support at $45,000, while ether slid as much as 5%.

UPDATE (April 1, 07:36 UTC) : Updates headline, amends reference to Discord in the lead.

UPDATE (April 1, 11:23 UTC): Adds a line on ApeCoin's performance in the last bullet.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.


Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.