Several gaming youtubers have recently learned that a user is using their identity to sell their image in NFT.
Since the popularization of NFTs nearly a year ago, scams and frauds of all kinds have multiplied. After the theft of digital works of art, it’s the turn of gaming youtubers to bear the brunt… of identity theft! Indeed, some content creators have realized that a smart guy, named StakeTheWeb, has created a page on the OpenSea sales platform to sell YouTube channels.
The latest to suffer the consequences are youtubers James Stephanie Sterling and Jim Caddick, better known as Caddicarus, in addition to a few other creators. The latter expressed on Twitter their deep disgust and especially disagreement with the sale of their image. For example, Sterling said:
” Frankly, I’m not surprised that a parasite turned my channel into an NFT. I didn’t consent to this, I don’t want this, and that goes to show everything I said about how disrespectful and exploitative this market is. Garbage. »
Frankly not surprised that some freeloading leech turned my channel into an NFT.
As gross as it is, I find it justifying – I did not consent to this, I do not want this, and it demonstrates everything I’ve said about how disrespectful and exploitative this market is.
Scum. https://t.co/saqcAm5lmW
— Commander Stephanie Sterling (@JimSterling) January 16, 2022
Will OpenSea take concrete measures?
For the moment, the sale of these fraudulent NFTs is still open on the site, which is a real problem for YouTubers and NFT influencers. Informed of the issue, an OpenSea spokesperson said:
” OpenSea supports an open and creative ecosystem in which people have more freedom and ownership over digital objects of all kinds. One of our operating principles is to support creators and their audiences by discouraging theft and plagiarism on our platform.
To that end, it is against our policy to sell NFTs using plagiarized content, which we routinely enforce in a variety of ways, including delisting and, in some cases, banning accounts. We’re actively expanding our efforts in the areas of customer support, trust and safety, and site integrity, so we can act faster to protect and strengthen our community and creators. »
NFTs and porn
Creators aren’t the only ones affected by scams like this. Alanah Pearce, who works for Sony in the Santa Monica studio (god of war) also learned that his image had been stolen, used to sell pornographic content, which was itself resold in NFT on the same platform. It goes without saying that the young woman intends to file a complaint against the perpetrators of this scam.
In extremely predictable news I’ve just been informed that somebody has taken an image of me, that *I* own, added a trademarked porn logo to it, and “minted” it to sell for profit as an NFT. Naturally, I was not asked for permission.
I cannot wait for the lawsuits 😂🤡. pic.twitter.com/7993J1e6YA
— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) January 16, 2022
