Phantom, the Solana-based wallet provider, has launched a new copy feature that allows users to remove unwanted tokens (NFTs) sent by scammers.
According to a blog post Thursday from the Phantom team, the new feature can be accessed via the Burn Token tab in the Phantom wallet app, allowing users to receive a minimal Solana (SOL) deposit each time they use it:
“We are still in the Wild West days of Web3. With the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, more and more bad actors are looking for ways to steal users’ money. The rapid growth in popularity of NFTs has led to an increasingly prevalent attack method for scammers – Spam NFTs.”
Phantom noted that the problem was particularly prevalent on Solana due to low transaction fees, as bad actors often take down supposedly free air en masse, which contains malicious links.
Generally, the NFT spam system prompts the recipient to click a link to a free NFT spool. However, if they complete the process, they end up withdrawing their money from their wallet. Instead, the link will ask the receiver to enter the initial phrase, which leads to the same result.
“These scams are becoming increasingly more complex. For example, after the title and domain of the nodes are identified as malicious, the scammers can alter the NFT metadata to try to avoid being blocked. It can seem like an endless game of whack-a -mole,” as stated in the blog post.
The move is part of a broader initiative by Phantom to combat NFT spam and bad actors in the space. The team stated that it is also fighting scammers with its phishing warning system, which issues a warning to users about “any malicious transactions that could put their assets or permissions at risk” after clicking on suspicious links.
The post added that Phantom is currently collaborating with Blowfish to improve how it “alerts users to phishing attempts.”
“As we offer NFT Burning today, we won’t stop there. Users can look forward to more automatic spam detection in the future. Using service providers like SimpleHash and our own internal reports, we will be able to gauge whether NFT is likely to Spam.”
Related Topics: Crypto Spam Increases 4000% in 2 Years – LunarCrush
Phantom is one of the most popular wallet providers for Solana-based NFTs and Decentralized Orator (DeFi), with more than 2 million monthly active users, according to the company.
At the beginning of August, rival wallet firm Slope suffered a security exploit that drained an estimated $8 million in funds on the Solana blockchain.
In a post-mortem analysis, Solana’s head of communications, Austin Fedora, found that 60% of the attack victims were Phantom users, even though the problem originated from Slope.
Solana hosted the second-largest NFT sales volume in July at $56.1 million, behind only Ethereum, which posted $535.6 million, according to data from CryptoSlam.
