Nifty News: Trader nabs 800 ETH by baiting a bot, NFT thefts slow and more

cointelegraph.com:

YouTuber and nonfungible token (NFT) trader Hanwe Chang said he scored 800 Ether (ETH), around $1.5 million, by tricking a rival trader’s bot into buying his own inflated NFTs.

In an Aug. 5 X (Twitter) post, Chang said he noticed a bot was copying his bids on the NFT marketplace Blur and decided to trick them.

An NFT-focused account A Raving Ape speculated that from a separate, anonymous wallet Chang purchased multiple Azuki NFTs sharing the same background color.

Context on how @HanweChang executed a plan to perfection and made 800e by selling "Off White A - Background color" azuki at 50e each and azuki elementals at 15e each. This is an epic case of PvP in the current NFT trading market ⚔️Hanwe has been coasting at the top spot of… pic.twitter.com/M8Ujm8CquJ

Knowing bots were copying his trades, Chang placed an inflated bid on the NFTs held in his anonymous wallet from his publicly-known hanwe.eth wallet.

Once a bot automatically copied the inflated bid, Chang accepted it from his anonymous wallet and was able to palm off the NFTs at a significant markup.

Seemingly, the owner of the bot known as elizab.eth responded to Chang’s post claiming the funds were stolen and offered to discuss a 10% bounty if the funds were returned.

We would like to discuss a bounty with you. We are offering a 10% bounty of any funds stolen from our bot, which are yours to keep if you return the remaining 90%.

Chang’s on-chain move triggered discussion over its legality.

Lawyer Gabriel Shapiro said he thinks elizab.eth “might have good legal claims” to get their ETH back from Chang’s trick — but only if they hire a skilled litigation attorney.

NFT volumes have continued to slide in the ongoing bear market, having sank by almost half over July.

Figures