Investors across the country told CNBC that hackers stole their land on metaverse by clicking on links they believed were real portals to the Virtual Universe, but it turned out to be a phishing site designed to steal user credentials. What they wanted was part of the metaverse – a new, blockchain-based set of virtual platforms that have recently gained prominence due to significant involvement from celebrities, fashion shows, and investors.
Instead, they say they have learned a lesson about the risks of high-risk investing. The growing popularity of investing in metaverse – as consumers hope to increase its value by purchasing virtual “land” across various platforms – has led to a new wave of high-tech fraud, officials and victims said in interviews. And cybersecurity experts.
Metaverse is not a single place. From the virtual reality headsets you can explore as an avatar to the digital worlds, the term “metaverse” refers to a range of virtual reality platforms that immerse users in an interactive online experience.
With cryptocurrency, consumers can buy and develop virtual land or attend fashion shows and concerts – all within the confines of their computer screens.
The concept is not new. For centuries, authors and inventors have speculated about a novel, interactive 3D reality. The term “metaverse” was first coined by author Neil Stephenson in his 1982 sci-fi novel, “Snow Crash”, in which metaverse is now a virtual reality used to escape the authoritarian world.
And over the decades of Stephenson’s novels, interactive online video games such as Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite have laid the groundwork for blockchain-based games that have attracted the Internet.
Some companies have adopted virtual reality technology, which allows users to access the metaverse with the headset, only accessing platforms where users can buy and sell the virtual property. The three most popular platforms for buying metaverse real estate are Sandbox, Dycentraland, and Superworld. Although the three platforms have been around for years, they only started selling blockchain-based space last year. In the process of buying real estate in the real world, customers in Metawars bid on virtual plots through NFT marketplaces such as OpenC.
To purchase land on Metawars, customers usually need a cryptocurrency wallet – the most common being MetaMask.
Once the investor has purchased the virtual land, the property is transferred to his or her digital wallet and the purchase is encoded in a blockchain – essentially equivalent to a purchase deed. The owner can develop anything from living quarters to a decorated concert stage on the ground. He said that as there are only a very small number of land platforms in these virtual worlds, investors believe that as platforms become more popular, the value of their assets will also increase.
Desrosiers said the metaverse aroused his interest because the nurse wanted to use a virtual platform to develop an educational game on human anatomy and physiology. So, she invested $ 16,000 in plots in The Sandbox and Superworld.
Kasha’s husband Dick Desrosiers, who was involved in the purchase, said, “It’s like a new frontier.
But her dreams of a virtual medical education game were quickly shattered. Three months after purchasing the land, Kasha said she had typed the name of the virtual platform Decentraland in the Google search bar – the first link that popped up was Fishing Link. After she clicked on the link, it wiped her metamask wallet.
“I’m really sad,” she said. “I went to work the next day, and I just said, ‘My metaverse lands have been stolen.’ And everyone is like, ‘What?’
Tracy Karlinsky, an online fitness instructor in Boulder, Colorado, had a similar experience. After hearing the hype about Metawares, Karlinsky spent about $ 20,000 on land in The Sandbox.
She is bordering on the sandbox property rapper Snoop Dogg’s Virtual Mansion – one of the first celebrities to enter the Metaverse and recently filmed a music video in a virtual space.
“I thought it was a fun area to be around,” Karlinsky said. “You know, he talked about private parties, talking to his fans, hosting concerts.”
But like Kasha Desrosiers, Karlinsky says he completely lost his land within days of clicking on the wrong fishing link and using the wrong link. The phishing link looks almost identical to the sandbox login page.
Since the metaverse is so new, law enforcement officials do not keep track of how much investors have lost due to scams. But according to Chinalysis, a blockchain data platform, phishing scams are on the rise. For example, Dicentraland was the victim of a phishing attack targeting MailChimp, and as a result, according to Chineseology, hundreds of email accounts were leaked to the hacker. The data platform says cybercriminals have posted fake mining sites on Twitter, resulting in the loss of sandbox tokens.
While hackers are draining consumer savings, investor funds are pouring into these metaverse platforms.
The sandbox, owned by a major blockchain venture capital firm called Animoca Brands, is worth $ 4 billion.
Descentland gained popularity after Facebook announced it had changed its name to Meta, focusing on Silicon Valley’s confidence in the metaverse as an emerging technology. The startup sold parcels of land for up to $ 100,000. The platform has since attracted major brands such as Estee Lauder, Samsung, and Sotheby’s as participants. In addition to these big-name supporters, Dysentraland has received $ 25 million in funding from investors such as Animoca Brands.
Animoca Brands have invested $ 2.1 million in online marketplace openness. That blockchain start-up is reported to be worth $ 13.3 billion and has attracted celebrities like Mark Cuban and Ashton Kutcher.
Tech giants such as Microsoft and Softbank are major investors in Metamosk.
CNBC contacted these investors for comment. Only Cubans have responded and these phishing scams are not unique to the crypto space – they affect large companies as well.
But there is also massive illegal trade going on.
Phishing pages responsible for clearing investors’ wallets are available for sale on popular chat platforms such as the Dark Web and Telegram. Some cybercriminals promote these fraudulent sites for just $ 400, while others sell them for up to $ 5,000 on a Russian-language underground forum.
When landlords type their MetaMask credentials into one of these phishing pages, their usernames and passwords are sent to the cybercriminal, allowing the scammer to collect all the digital assets in the wallet.
Cybercriminals can resell stolen land in online marketplaces such as OpenC.
The prevalence of these hacks should not surprise Mason Wilder, research manager at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
“Most legitimate usage contexts for these technologies are contagious,” Wilder said. “But until it matures further, a lot of people will lose a lot of money.”
