Seth Green is going bananas after a crook made off with some of his digital assets. The comedian says he fell for a phishing scam that allowed a thief to loot his collection of NFTs. The robbery included one very special Bored Ape that is set to star in an upcoming animated series—throwing a real monkey wrench into the plans.
On May 8, Green said that an anonymous scammer pilfered his NFT collection and got away with some of his prized pieces. The comedian revealed that he accidentally interacted with a scam website—and as a result—someone made off with his Bored Ape, two Mutant Apes, and a Doodle!
The theft is causing a real headache for the actor who has been hard at work creating a TV show based on some of his NFTs —including Bored Ape #8398 —which Green had named Fred and intended to be the star of the show.
“What if your friendly neighborhood bartender was Bored Ape Yacht Club #8398?” Green asked during an interview with crypto hype man Gary Vaynerchuk. The comedian said he wanted to imagine a universe where “it doesn't matter what you look like, what only matters is your attitude.”
“I bought that ape in July 2021, and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show,” Green told Vaynerchuk. “Then days before — his name is Fred, by the way — days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped.”
The scammer sold the NFT to a pseudonymous collector known as “DarkWing84,” who purchased it for more than $200,000. The account then swiftly transferred Bored Ape Yacht Club #8398 to a collection called “GBE_Vault,” which is where it currently sits.
According to Buzzfeed, if the current owner of the NFT “wanted to cause trouble” for Green—“they probably could.” The person in possession of the NFT is now the holder of its “commercial usage rights,” according to tax and litigation attorney Daniel Dubin.
Green has tried several times to grab the attention of DarkWing84 on Twitter, appealing to the user to “work it out between us,” but so far it looks like the pleas have fallen on deaf ears.