The worlds biggest NFT marketplace, OpenSea, recently announced that it shall be testing a new system which freezes trading of NFTs involved in suspicious sales while it investigates the transaction to prevent theft, scams, and any other potential fraudulent behavior. When the platforms new automated system detects a suspicious NFT sale, it will notify the seller, providing the user a week to confirm or dispute the transaction before the asset may officially be sold. Moreover, as per OpenSea, fraudulent entities often attempt to flip stolen NFTs after draining the victims assets through malicious links claiming to offer free mints or airdrops. In fact, cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic revealed that more than $100 million in NFTs had been stolen between July 2021 and July 2022. Scams and theft, according to Saurabh Sharma, OpenSeas Head of Search Products, are therefore among the most significant barriers to wider NFT adoption. Additionally, while OpenSea can prevent the resale of stolen NFTs, the company cannot guarantee that victims can successfully reclaim their lost assets unless the perpetrators cooperate. In related news, OpenSea also recently unveiled the launch of an automated URL scanner to detect malicious links to further deter undesirable entities.
