By
Temitope Olatunji
April 18th, 2024
As per reports, the attackers managed to steal NFTs even from Bill Murray’s personal wallet which had more than 800 NFTs.
Actor Bill Murray has been the latest victim of yet another crypto hack taking pace in the industry. The famous American actor lost $185,000 worth of Ether (ETH) just within a few hours of closing his NFT charity auction. As per the on-chain data from Etherscan, the hackers breached the actor’s Ethereum wallet and immediately drained it thereafter. As the sale ended around 7:00 PM, the hackers withdrew the funds from the wallet before the sale closed.
The auction was organized by The Shack in partnership with Coinbase‘s NFT world. It was a collectible part of Bill Murray’s “Bill Murray 1000” collection. The goal was to give his fans a blockchain experience by dining with the famous actor. As per Coinbase:
“Only 82 of the 1,000 NFTs in the collection have been issued thus far (only the 1/1 comes with beer utility), and the least expensive edition is advertised on Coinbase’s (COIN) marketplace for 11 ETH, or almost $17,000.”
Before the hack, the auction had raised 119.2 ETH, worth over $185,000. The proceeds from the NFT auction were to go to a non-profit Chive Charities. This was to support the care of a 3-year-old girl suffering from the effects of a rare CLDN5 gene mutation and intractable epilepsy. However, the hackers managed to drain all the funds from the Ethereum wallet.
Attacking Bill Murray’s Personal Stash
As per the investigation by Murray’s team, the hackers also tried to steal NFTs from the hacker’s personal wallet. But Project Venkman’s team, in charge of Murray’s wallets, acted promptly and moved all the targeted NFTs. The hackers also used fake identities to move the funds to addresses linked to crypto exchange Binance.
The wallet featuring Murray’s personal NFT collection holds more than 800 NFTs. These include NFTs from CryptoPunks, Pudgy Penguin, Cool Cat, and Flower Girls. But the team from Project Venkman used these NFTs in several safehouse wallets.
The investigative teams have to still find out how the attackers gained access to Murray’s wallet. Following the attack, the actor’s team filed a police report. To identify the attackers, the team is also working with a blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Interestingly, a benefactor has stepped up to replace the hacked funds. As per details, the benefactor donated 120 ETH worth over $187,000 to Chive Charities.