The crypto community had a trying week, and it closed in even less appealing style as phishing attempts continued to flourish.

The recent fall of stablecoins and the collapse of LUNA shocked many, allowing attackers to take advantage of the terrible week.

CoinGecko released a scam warning on Twitter today. The data aggregator issued a warning to clients urging them to disregard any requests to link wallets with the CoinGecko site.

The data aggregator debunked any such order as a fraud and unauthorized, in a brief quick-reacting post. It appears that scammers had mimicked CoinGecko’s genuine website. Even more strangely, it was not the only company to be targeted.

NFT Holders Are A Target For Attackers

CoinGecko researchers discovered that the scammers utilized deceptive advertising to dupe their targets. The aggregator, for example, was targeted by phony adverts that were designed to look like phishing attempts. These advertisements were intended for a narrow audience: NFT holders.

BAYCs, some of the most prominent NFTs in the metaverse, were promised to them. The redirected site, despite being now down, appeared to be well-kept and genuine enough. It also had the distinctive ape skull emblem and a strange URL: nftapes.win.

Several websites have already confirmed the phishing ads on their site. Etherscan and Dextools, two well-known tools in the cryptocurrency world, are among them. In fact, the attackers went after their victims on the basis of their reputations and fame.

Following the breach, several cryptocurrency exchanges have issued a warning to their users about interacting with the fraudulent advertisements.

Efforts to Prevent This from Happening

There has been no letup in the effort to repair the damage done. CoinGecko, for example, linked the malevolent advertisements to a cryptocurrency advertising protocol known as Coinzilla. The team responded quickly, removing the advertising that urged customers to avoid connecting any wallets to their website.

They have also committed to continued research into the intrusion.

The announcement was made on Twitter by the team at DexTools, who informed users that they had disabled all advertising on their site pending further information from the Ad source. For the time being, Etherscan has blocked all third-party connections.

It’s a Bad Time to Invest in Cryptocurrency

The timing couldn’t have been worse for these events. Investors are still hurting from the recent Terra coin collapse and the widespread market decline. These occurrences only exacerbate the anxiety.

In the recent months, phishing assaults have increased dramatically. And because of OpenSea’s issues in February, such attacks are becoming more frequent.