Apparently, Our Theory About The Fake Banksy NFT Was Incorrect. Here’s New Info
September 13 2021 - 11:40PM
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A couple of weeks ago, a hacker with a heart of gold sold a fake
Banksy NFT for 100 ETH and then gave the money back. They
advertised the auction through Banksy’s official site. If the NFT
was fake, someone hacked that site. Which seemed unlikely. Also,
there is the issue of the alias that the scammed NFT collector
uses. Pranksy, a play on words referencing the elusive graffiti
artist Banksy mixed with the word “prank.” Which is what this whole
situation was, a prank. Too many coincidences. Suspicious, we
posed our theory: “Was Pranksy targeted by Banksy and his team? If
Banksy wanted to create worldwide headlines and comment on the NFT
boom at the same time, a notorious art collector was the missing
ingredient. Pransky’s prominence in the NFT community mixed with
his name makes him an ideal target.” It seemed to fit, but the case
of the fake Banksy NFT never ceases to amaze. Security
Experts Warned Banksy About His Website’s Vulnerability Luckily for
us, the BBC is on the case. They interviewed Sam Curry, “a
professional ethical hacker from the US and founder of security
consultancy Palisade.” There seem to be too many “ethical hackers”
in this story, but ok… Curry told them: “I was in a security forum
and multiple people were posting links to the site. I’d clicked one
and immediately saw it was vulnerable, so I reached out to Banksy’s
team via email as I wasn’t sure if anyone else had. “They didn’t
respond over email, so I tried a few other ways to contact them
including their Instagram, but never received a response.” These
things happen. How many emails does Banksy’s team get? Did it pass
their spam folder? Can we be sure they read it on time? The
suspicious thing, though, is Mr. Curry’s description of the site’s
vulnerability. It: “allowed you to create arbitrary files on
the website” and post your own pages and content. So, the flaw
permitted the hackers to do exactly what they needed to do to
advertise the fake Banksy NFT auction and not much more, huh?
Interesting. ETH price chart on FTX | Source: ETH/USD on
TradingView.com Banksy Isn’t Responsible For The Fake Banksy NFT,
Experts Say Neither the artist’s official website nor the Pest
Control website even acknowledge the fake Banksy NFT. Something
doesn’t feel right here. The BBC felt our uneasiness and tried to
put our concerns to rest. They consulted two Banksy experts and
they both thought that the shoe didn’t fit. According to them, the
elusive graffiti artist is not the mastermind behind the whole
event. This is not a “Banksy stunt.” Professor Paul Gough,
“principal and vice-chancellor of Arts University Bournemouth,”
goes first: “I don’t see it as a Banksy prank. The timing for me
doesn’t work right, the context doesn’t feel appropriate. He’s just
done his ‘Spraycation’ stunt where he bombed 10 sites in East
Anglia, and put out a video on social media about it. “That is a
pretty major stunt and takes a lot of organising by a very
professional crew, so I just don’t think the timings right here so
soon after that.” Here’s the Spraycation video, dated August 13th,
2021: It does seem like a “major stunt.” Does that mean that the
fake Banksy NFT operation is out of the question? Or did Banksy
went to work immediately after finishing his spraycation? Did the
elusive graffiti artist strike again in the digital realm? Second
at bat is John Brandler, a Banksy collector, who provides another
reason why the situation is not an original Banksy: “Banksy’s
stunts are not malicious and they don’t hurt people.” Good point,
but let’s be honest, the incident didn’t really hurt Pranksy. The
NFT collector got his ETH back, was the subject of worldwide
headlines, and still got to keep the fake Banksy NFT. It may be
worth something, someday. Or is this the last we’re going to
hear about the fake Banksy NFT? Featured Image: Screenshot of the
fake Banksy NFT | Charts by TradingView
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