A Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT owner, known as “Crumz,” narrowly escaped a sophisticated scam attempt by an individual posing as a Forbes journalist. On November 27, Crumz shared his experience of nearly falling victim to this scam.
The scammer, impersonating Robert LaFanco, a real Forbes editor, reached out to Crumz via a fake account, offering an interview about BAYC for Forbes. During the supposed interview, the scammer asked Crumz to click a button to allow recording, which Crumz did despite noticing some red flags, such as the use of a non-premium Zoom account and a request to use a separate bot for recording his screen.
The scammer then asked Crumz to fetch a banana to represent his ape, a ploy intended to distract him and gain control of his computer to steal his assets. Realizing the potential danger, Crumz stayed at his computer and observed the scammers attempting to take over his screen.
This incident was also highlighted by Rollbit partner borowik.eth to his 140,000 followers on X (previously known as Twitter) on the same day. He warned about a fake account under the name Robert LaFranco, claiming to be a Forbes assistant managing editor, who was trying to trick individuals into granting access to their PCs to steal valuable NFTs.
Another BAYC community member, Laura Rod, reported a similar encounter with the fraudulent Forbes editor. These incidents are part of a broader pattern of scams involving fake journalists, as reported by blockchain security firm Slowmist earlier in November. These scams typically involve scheduling an interview, guiding victims to join via Telegram, conducting lengthy interviews, and then providing a malicious link under the guise of a consent form for publication.
In a similar case in October, a user of Friend.tech was deceived by someone posing as a Bloomberg journalist, leading to a drained account after clicking on a supposed consent form link.
Industry observers have also noted that scammers on X frequently use BAYC profile pictures, which is an additional red flag for potential scam attempts.
Get $200 Free Bitcoins every hour! No Deposit No Credit Card required. Sign Up