BrandShield (LSE: BRSD), a cybersecurity company specializing in monitoring, detecting, and removing online threats, announced new findings on the increasing threat and proliferation of unauthorized NFTs associated with popular U.S. celebrities who have promoted NFTs. 

Markets and Markets predicts that the existing $3 billion NFT market will become a $13.6 billion market by 2027, and BrandShield's findings underscore the severity of crypto scammers leveraging celebrity influence to defraud unsuspecting fans.

“We identified a number of imposter profiles and domains that link directly to unauthorized NFT listings that use the celebrity's name, likeness, and brand affiliations,” said BrandShield CEO, Yoav Keren. “These fraudsters spread their scams over many different platforms to evade detection, and social media is often the first layer of the funnel. Oftentimes, without their knowledge or consent, endorsement of an NFT is weaponized against a celebrity's fandom.”

Beware: Social Media Impersonators

BrandShield identified the ten most popular celebrities who have promoted NFTs, crypto wallets, and digital assets in the past year. The company then conducted a deep search of the internet, analyzing websites, domain names, and social platforms to surface potential scams associated with NFTs these celebrities promote or NFTs associated with their names.

Across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, BrandShield found over 16,500 impersonators targeting popular celebrities. Twitter had the highest number of celebrity impersonators, with 44% of the fraudulent findings surfacing on the platform. Facebook (28%) and Pinterest (24%) had similar amounts of impersonators, while Instagram had the least (4%).

Of the top celebrities impersonated, Tom Brady's name accounted for the highest percentage (17.49%) across social media platforms, followed by Matt Damon (13.79%) and Mike Tyson (13.56%).

A breakdown of celebrities by percentage and total impersonations below: 

1. Tom Brady – 17.49%, 2889 impersonations

2. Matt Damon – 13.79%, 2278 impersonations 

3. Mike Tyson – 13.56%, 2239 impersonations 

4. Kim Kardashian – 12.05%, 1990 impersonations 

5. Paris Hilton – 10.92%, 1804 impersonations 

6. Jamie Foxx – 9.13%, 1508 impersonations 

7. Floyd Mayweather – 7.12%, 1174 impersonations 

8. Charli D'amelio – 6.55%, 1082 impersonations 

9. Reese Witherspoon – 4.74%, 782 impersonations

10. Gwyneth Paltrow – 4.65%, 768 impersonations 

Fake Celebrity NFTs on OpenSea 

To understand the breadth of NFT scams associated with the top impersonated celebrities, BrandShield scanned popular NFT marketplace OpenSea for fraudulent listings. 

The company surfaced over 41,500 NFTs with unauthorized use of likeness and image associated with popular celebrities. In addition to social media impersonations, these scams were executed through networks of typosquatting domains and redirecting social media followers of personal accounts to NFT marketplaces. 

As with social media impersonations, Tom Brady accounted for the highest percentage (75.53%) of fraudulent NFTs, followed by Mike Tyson (16.65%) and Kim Kardashian (4.23%). 

A breakdown of celebrities by percentage and total fake NFTs on OpenSea is below: 

1. Tom Brady – 75.53%, 31,400 fake NFTs

2. Mike Tyson – 16.65%, 6922 fake NFTs

3. Kim Kardashian – 4.23%, 1758 fake NFTs

4. Paris Hilton – 2.82%, 1171 fake NFTs

5. Matt Damon – 0.77%, 322 fake NFTs

“While many brands and celebrities have seen NFTs as a positive way to create meaningful, digital touchpoints for fans, the unregulated, 'wild west' digital asset space can be dangerous. Until these scams are less rampant, we advise that fans do their diligence to ensure NFTs associated with popular figures are legitimate, and generally approach crypto and NFTs with caution,” continued Keren.

For more information on BrandShield, please visit https://www.brandshield.com. For questions related to findings in the report, please email brandshield@vsc.co .

About BrandShield

BrandShield is a leading cybersecurity company founded in Israel by cybersecurity experts that protect the world's largest brands and consumers from phishing attacks, online fraud, impersonation, counterfeits and other online threats posed by dangerous cybercriminals. Through its AI/ML platform, BrandShield identifies, tracks, and eliminates online threats for global brands and organizations, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Levi's, New Balance, Swisscom, and the Pharmaceutical Security Institute. BrandShield is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM under the ticker symbol BRSD.

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