Scammers allegedly impersonated OpenSea staff to steal funds from NFT holders
Last month, opportunists exploited OpenSea’s platform for over $1 million due to a user interface issue on its platform, according to Elliptic

OpenSea is launching a customer service server with Web3 communications platform Metalink in an effort to mitigate risk of fraudsters pretending to be members of the company’s staff. Alleged scammers have previously impersonated the marketplace’s employees to deceive NFT owners in OpenSea’s Discord, scamming them out of millions of dollars.

“OpenSea will be partnering with Metalink as we seek to engage more deeply with the NFT ecosystem,” Stevey Tromberg, OpenSea’s head of community, said in a statement. “Our goal is to create a direct channel for you to interact with OpenSea to get support, offer feedback, receive updates, and to share any other information that will help us better serve you.”

The company hopes to mitigate user risk via Metalink, which operates a “token gated” platform so that only users that own certain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will have access.

Once users connect their cryptocurrency wallets to the platform, Metalink said, they’ll be connected with an “authenticated” customer support staff from OpenSea. There will be three official channels for OpenSea on Metalink, which include support, announcements and user feedback.

For the time being, Metalink said, these services can be utilized by 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 expand the reach and effectiveness of our customer support reach, beyond just Discord,” Tromberg said. The new channels will have “dedicated community support staff from OpenSea spending a few hours a day in Metalink, all of whom will be marked as verified OpenSea staff.”

The announcement from OpenSea follows reports of users having their digital collectibles snatched up and resold at far below market value on the platform.

A spokesperson for OpenSea told Blockworks in a Jan. 25 statement that the company has since refunded 130 wallets of affected users, totaling 750 ether ($2.31 million as of Wednesday noon ET).

The loophole was not a bug or an exploit, according to the spokesperson, but rather a user interface issue that occurs when a user creates a listing then transfers the NFT to a different crypto wallet.

The leading NFT marketplace also faces a new competitive challenge from LooksRare, which hopes to lure OpenSea users by rewarding NFT traders with the new platform’s governance token, as well as a cut of the ether from each trade.

OpenSea did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.

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