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A Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible-token (NFT) holder has lost several NFTs, including a 'bubble gum ape,' after being deceived into exchanging precious pieces for worthless PNGs in a fraudulent exchange deal. The holder identified as's27' lost the 'bubble gum ape' and matching mutants worth $5,67,000 (roughly 4.29 crores) after swapping their NFTs at an exchange called'swapkiwi.' On this platform, direct NFT swaps between collectors are feasible, with cheaper transaction fees. 's27' lost BAYC #1584 and two Mutant Ape variations — #13168 and #13169 — to the fraudster, according to the pseudonymous 0xQuit, who revealed details of the fraud on Twitter.

 0xQuit also posted a discussion about how the scam occurred and how to avoid a similar occurrence in the future.

In a direct swap scam, a bored ape collector loses $5,67,000 in NFTs.

In a fraud, a holder of the Bored Ape NFT tokens lost $5,67,000 in tokens.

0xQuit also posted a discussion about how the scam occurred and how to avoid a similar occurrence in the future.

According to Rarity Tools, BAYC #1584 has a rarity score of 111.99 out of 10,000, indicating that it is relatively uncommon.

Swapkiwi was used by the victim to participate in a direct swap with the scammer. Unlike traditional marketplaces like OpenSea, Swapkiwi allows collectors to exchange NFTs directly, minimising transaction fees. However, the other merchant, unbeknownst to s27, put up counterfeit NFTs in exchange for s27's real Bored Ape and Mutant Apes. The scammer used images of real Bored Apes to manufacture fake versions, which he then posted on OpenSea.

According to 0xQuit, the attacker took advantage of the way swapkiwi displayed validated NFTs. Scammers can easily fake this authentication by simply adding a checkmark onto an image of a Bored Ape because the checkmark displays within the image.

Swapkiwi responded to the theft by tweeting that it was working on improving its platform.

"When exchanging, please be cautious. A verification badge was photo-shopped into an NFT by scammers. Opensean or etherscan should always be double-checked. "We're working on improvements," the message added.

This isn't the first time a BAYC NFT collector has been taken advantage of. BAYC holders and other bluechip NFT collectors are common targets for such schemes due to the high value of their assets.