The actor Bill Murray’s Ethereum (ETH) wallet was compromised hours after accepting payments through an auction of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) inspired by his life.
Hollywood Actor Bill Murray. Image: Bitcoin.com
As reported on Sept. 2, the actor lost 119.2 ETH from the auction, and investigations are underway to identify the offender.
According to Etherscan’s on-chain analysis, the hacker began recovering the cash on Sept. 1. The actor’s team discovered that the bad actor attempted to take about 800 NFTs from Murray’s personal collection, but the scheme was prevented.
The headline says it all. But it could have been worse. Thank you @projectvenkman for saving Bill Murray’s NFTs before they were also stolen including a @hirst_official NFT, two @cryptopunksnfts, a @pudgypenguins, a @coolcatsnft & some @FlowerGirlsNFT.https://t.co/Rd8DNUvTnc
— theCHIVE (@theCHIVE) September 3, 2022
After the attempt, the actor’s wallet security team from the NFT consultancy platform Project Venkman transferred the collection to two safehouse wallets.
Funds transferred to Binance linked address
Initial investigations show that the hacker sent the stolen funds to an address associated with Binance and Union Chain crypto exchanges. Nonetheless, it remains unclear how the hacker obtained access to the cash.
The team of Murray is also collaborating with the crypto analysis company Chainalysis to perform a forensic investigation into the occurrence.
“We engaged Chainalysis within 10 minutes of learning of the attack last night. They’ll have a bigger report on that, and they’re still investigating all of the threads,” Gavin Gilles from Project Venkman said.
Most of the remaining collectibles and other non-fungible assets owned by the actor through his business partners will be auctioned next week. The compilation contains rare anecdotes and tales from Murray.
After the event, the actor’s team filed a police report to initiate an inquiry.
As part of an effort to generate cash for the Chive Charities program, the NFT auction concluded on Aug. 31. The proceeds were intended to care for a three-year-old child named Evelyn, who suffers from a rare disease CLDN5 gene mutation and persistent epilepsy.
Interestingly, a Coinbase customer transferred 120 ETH to Chive Charities to compensate for the loss.