Hacker attack on VeVe, “gems” stolen

The NFT marketplace VeVe has suffered a hacker attack that has led to the theft of “gems”, the in-app token used to make purchases on the platform. 

The hacker attack on VeVe

The announcement of the attack was made directly by VeVe from its Twitter account:

We have become aware of an exploit of our systems which resulted in a large amount of gems being acquired illegitimately. We appreciate the members of the community that have come to us after noticing unusual activity.

— VeVe | Digital Collectibles (@veve_official) March 23, 2022

According to VeVe, there was an exploit in the system that made it possible to illegally purchase a large number of “gems”. It was users who reported to VeVe that something strange was going on. 

The facts led to the marketplace being closed and some accounts being restricted in order to investigate, understand what had happened, and take action. 

In the end, VeVe was offline for over two days, from 23 March, the day of the attack, until yesterday. 

What happened to VeVe

The app did not give an official explanation of what happened and how it was resolved, only saying that some accounts were restricted. 

In fact, according to Cointelegraph, several Twitter accounts spoke of losses of millions of gems, which were allegedly minted, stolen and then resold. VeVe reacted by blocking accounts that allegedly bought the fraudulently stolen gems cheaply. 

About VeVe

VeVe is well known in the NFT scene for its partnerships with major brands, such as Marvel, Batman, Adventure Time, Monster Hunter, NFLPA, DC Collectibles, Star Trek, Jurassic Park, Fast and the Furious, Back to the Future, Ultraman, Superman, and many others. 

Hacks in the NFT market

The NFT market like all up-and-coming sectors is also receiving attention from hackers. The one in VeVe is certainly not the first or even the most famous case.

The two well-known platforms Rarible and OpenSea have also been the victims of hackers, where a user exploited a bug and managed to buy valuable NFTs cheaply, including 3 Bored Apes, and then resold them at a higher price. The hack was worth almost $1 million.