Hackers target bestselling NFT artist Beeple's Twitter account and make off with $438,000 from followers through a phishing scam

• Hackers targeted NFT artist Beeple's Twitter account to lure followers into a phishing scam. 
• A security analyst at MetaMask alerted followers on Sunday about the attack. 
• The scam was took advantage of Beeple's previous work with luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton. 

Beeple, the artist who made history by selling one of his non-fungible tokens for $69 million, was targeted on Twitter by hackers who took more than $400,000 from some of his followers. 

Beeple said in a Sunday post on Twitter he had regained control of his account, confirming the hack in a message to his 673,000 followers. 

"Stay safe out there, anything too good to be true IS A FUCKING SCAM," wrote Beeple, who caught the attention of the crypto world last year by when his "Everydays: The First 500 Days" NFT sold for $69.3 million at an auction held by Christie's.

The message from Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, arrived hours after security analyst Harry Denley at cryptocurrency wallet MetaMask alerted Beeple's followers about the attack. Denley under his harry.eth account on Twitter said Beeple's account had been compromised "to post a phishing website to steal funds." 

The hackers took advantage of Beeple's collaboration with Louis Vuitton last year under which the artist designed collectible NFTs for a game commemorating the 200th year of the luxury fashion house.

Hackers put links in Beeple's account that looked like it was a raffle connected to a Beeple-Vuitton collection. But if clicked, the links siphoned off money from users' crypto wallets.  

The "bad actors" through two scams captured $438,000 within about five hours, from followers on Beeple's account, wrote Denley.

"And as side note," wrote Beeple, "there will never be a SURPRISE MINT I mention one time in one place starting at 6am Sunday morning."