Jay Chou loses Bored Ape NFT in phishing theft, scammers sold it for more than US$500,000
The singer’s non-fungible token from Bored Ape Yacht Club fetched 155 ETH, which is around US$520,000.
Taiwanese singer Jay Chou falls victim to phishing scam and loses his prized NFT, Bored Ape, to theft. (Photo: Instagram/jaychou)
Singer-songwriter Jay Chou thought it was just another April Fool’s Day joke when a friend broke the news that one of his most prized non-fungible tokens (NFT), Bored Ape, had been stolen.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be true and Chou was the victim of a scam.
Chou took to Instagram on Friday (Apr 1) to say that his digital token had been “stolen by a phishing website”. The stolen work is from Bored Ape Yacht Club and is considered one of the world's most valuable NFT collections.
Chou was gifted the NFT in January this year by Jeffrey Hwang Licheng, a member of the Taiwanese hip-hop group, Machi.
The stolen NFT was found on NFT Marketplace LooksRare where its first transaction was for 133 ether (ETH) and it later sold for 155 ETH, which is around US$520,000, based on the current value for Ethereum.
In his post, the 43-year-old Chou, warned people to be more cautious, adding through his hashtags that NFT theft was not a joke.
According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, Chou may have lost another three NFTs besides the Bored Ape, specifically one from Mutant Ape Yacht Club and another two from Doodles.
