OpenSea NFT marketplace faces charges by a nonfungible token (NFT) collector over a number of claims, including that he was locked out of his account for more than three months after falling victim to a phishing scheme.
Robbie Acres, an OpenSea user, informed Cointelegraph that he promptly reported the theft of his NFTs via a phishing scam to the NFT marketplace. The NFT collector claims to have encountered several challenges, nevertheless. Acres cited the following:
“They took over 48 hours to respond, by which time the stolen assets had been sold as the buyer significantly undervalued them in prioritizing pace over value.”
To stop future harm, the NFT marketplace also reacted by locking his account. Acres said that that was not the answer he had asked for.
Despite numerous requests to free his assets, he said, “OpenSea held my assets ransom for nearly three months.” The investor further claims that in order to activate his account, OpenSea forced him to falsely represent himself.
The NFT investor feels that responsibility for losses sustained at the time should rest with the market. Acres is certain that OpenSea’s activities have resulted in losses of $500,000.
He said that since he was an active investor in the Web3 community, “OpenSea’s activities caused me considerable financial loss whether by design or incompetence.” As a result, Acres sought the assistance of attorneys to pursue legal action against OpenSea.
The legal counsel for Acres, Enrico Schaefer, said that this incident is not unique. The lawyer stated that numerous clients are coping with the same problem. As stated by Schaefer:
“I have spoken with and represent several people who had their NFTs stolen or accounts compromised on the OpenSea marketplace. In some instances, OpenSea acknowledges its failures and makes the account owner whole. In others, OpenSea simply ignores the issue.”
In addition, the attorney said that OpenSea should “concentrate on its clients, the individuals purchasing and selling NFTs, rather than be blinded by expansion, investment cash, and gross revenue.”
When contacted about the Acres problem, a representative of OpenSea informed Cointelegraph that:
“The theft in question took place outside of OpenSea and the items were sold before OpenSea became aware of the reported theft. Soon after we were notified and became aware, we disabled the items and the user’s account has since been unlocked.”
The company also said that it has made investments in staff and equipment to prohibit the resale of stolen goods on its platform. They penned:
“Theft is one of the biggest and most challenging ecosystem issues to solve because it happens across many different digital surface areas and through many unique (and legitimate) communication channels.”
The NFT marketplace implemented a new stolen goods policy on August 11, 2022, expanding the usage of police complaints. In response, numerous users claimed on Twitter that OpenSea was unable to assist them after their NFT was taken.
