- In an effort to reduce theft, the NFT marketplace will collaborate with Web3 communications platform
- Metalink.Scammers allegedly impersonated OpenSea employees in order to steal money from NFT holders.
According to a source, opportunists exploited OpenSea’s platform for more than $1 million last month due to a user interface issue on its platform.
In an effort to reduce the risk of fraudsters impersonating company employees, OpenSea is launching a customer service server with Web3 communications platform Metalink. Alleged scammers have previously impersonated marketplace employees in OpenSea’s Discord to defraud NFT owners out of millions of dollars.
“As we seek to engage more deeply with the NFT ecosystem, OpenSea will be partnering with Metalink,” said Stevey Tromberg, OpenSea’s head of community, in a statement.
“Our goal is to establish a direct channel for you to interact with OpenSea in order to receive support, provide feedback, receive updates, and share any other information that will help us better serve you.”
Metalink, which operates a “token gated” platform to which only users who own certain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will have access, is how the company hopes to mitigate user risk.
Users will be connected with a “authenticated” customer support staff from OpenSea once they connect their cryptocurrency wallets to the platform, according to Metalink. On Metalink, OpenSea will have three official channels: support, announcements, and user feedback.
Metalink stated that for the time being, these services are available to certain holders, including owners of popular collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, World of Women, Doodles, and Cool Cats.
“This is one of many initiatives planned to broaden and improve the reach and effectiveness of our customer support reach beyond Discord,” Tromberg explained.
“Dedicated community support staff from OpenSea will spend a few hours a day in Metalink, all of whom will be marked as verified OpenSea staff,” according to the announcement.
The announcement from OpenSea comes in the wake of reports of users’ digital collectibles being snatched up and resold at far below market value on the platform.
OpenSea spokesperson further told that the company has since refunded 130 affected users’ wallets totaling 750 ether ($2.31 million as of Wednesday noon ET).
According to the spokesperson, the loophole was not a bug or an exploit, but rather a user interface issue that occurs when a user creates a listing and then transfers the NFT to a different crypto wallet.
LooksRare, a new competitor to the leading NFT marketplace, hopes to entice OpenSea users by rewarding NFT traders with the new platform’s governance token as well as a cut of the ether from each trade.
Disclaimer: These are the writer’s opinions and should not be considered investment advice. Readers should do their own research.
