The OpenSea NFT marketplace is being sued by a nonfungible token (NFT) collector over a number of claims, including that he was locked out of his account for more than three months after tumbling victim to a phishing scam.
Robbie Acres, an OpenSea user, told Cointelegraph that he immediately reported the theft of his NFTs through a phishing scam to the NFT marketplace. The NFT collector claims to have encountered numerous challenges, though. Acres cited the following:
They took more than 48 hours to respond, by which time the stolen goods had already been sold because the buyer placed a higher priority on speed than value.
In an effort to limit further harm, the NFT marketplace additionally reacted by locking his account. Acres asserted that it was not the answer he had asked for. He continued, “Despite repeated requests to unlock my assets, Opensea held my assets ransom for more than three months.”
The NFT investor feels that responsibility for losses incurred at the time should rest with the market. Acres is certain that OpenSea’s actions have resulted in losses of $500,000.
He claimed that because he was a prominent investor in the web3 community, “OpenSea’s actions caused me significant financial loss whether by intention or ineptitude.” As a result, Acres sought the assistance of attorneys to pursue legal action against OpenSea.
The legal counsel for Acres, Enrico Schaefer, asserted that this incident is not unique. The lawyer confirmed that several people are coping with the same problem. As stated by Schaefer:
“I have spoken with a number of people whose Opensea accounts or NFTs were stolen, and I support them. In some cases, Opensea makes up for its mistakes by compensating the account owner. In some cases, OpenSea just ignores the problem.
In addition, the attorney said that OpenSea should “focus on its customers, the people buying and selling NFTs, rather than be blinded by growth, investor dollars, and gross revenue.”
When asked about the Acres problem, a representative of OpenSea told Cointelegraph that:
“The items were sold before OpenSea learned of the reported theft, and the theft in question occurred outside of OpenSea. We disabled the items as soon as we were informed and made aware of them, and the user’s account has since been unlocked.
The platform also noted that it has invested in personnel and tools in order to deter theft, catch thieves in the act, and stop the sale of stolen goods on its platform. They penned:
Theft occurs across a wide range of digital surface areas and via a wide range of distinctive (and legal) communication channels, making it one of the biggest and most challenging ecosystem problems to address.