Let’s get right into it. Pranksy having a moment of self-fulfilling prophecy. In his early days, most of his works were mostly remixed versions of Banksy.
Banksy’s official website was exploited, with a pop up announcing an NFT auction on opensea. It didn’t take long for pranksy to ape in. He managed to outbid everyone by 87 ETH. The artwork was listed as "Great Redistribution of the Climate Change Disaster" by a user called “gaakmann”. Interestingly “Brian S. Gaakman” is a pseudonym Banksy used back in 2018 for RA Summer Exhibition.
A Well Oiled Plan 🛢️
With the conviction and legitimacy from the site, Pranksy was….pranked. As an ardent fan of Banksy's artwork, he offered 100 ETH for the fake NFT. Within an hour, the seller accepted Pranksy’s bid and closed the auction, the page displaying the so-called “auction” on Banksy's site was also quickly taken down. Hinting to Pranksy that he might have been scammed.
So my bid of 100 ETH was accepted for the potential #Banksy first #NFT on @opensea.
— Pranksy 📦 (@pranksy) August 31, 2021
The link was removed from his website so it could have been a very elaborate hoax, my guess is that is what it will be, only time will tell!https://t.co/EEmElqIvBZ pic.twitter.com/Pbs5zrht05
The icing on the Fake
The hacker returned all of ETH. Pranksy reportedly believes he found the identity of the culprit, but he doesn’t want to reveal it as he got his ETH back.
My ETH from the #Banksy #NFT purchase was just returned to me, ethical hacker proving a point?https://t.co/idDNEsEIhK
— Pranksy 📦 (@pranksy) August 31, 2021
There have been accusations on Twitter that this whole thing was a publicity stunt. Pranksy dusted and denied the accusation saying that he wouldn’t want to risk a possible future relationship with Banksy.
Just to add a comment, to those who feel this may have been some sort of stunt. I would never risk a future relationship with Banksy or any fine artist by hiring someone to hack their website and then buying an #NFT from myself, what an unusual day!
— Pranksy 📦 (@pranksy) August 31, 2021
The Art Newspaper “Were Banksy and Pranksy both pranked in $330,000 NFT sale?
An NFT that appeared to link to Banksy’s website, stoked debate on social media that the British street artist had entered the NFT fray—but is it all a hoax? @opensea @pranksy https://t.co/Fm4XChk8q7
— The Art Newspaper (@TheArtNewspaper) August 31, 2021
Takeaway: Always DYOR and be careful what you buy and what you ape into.
im banky.
— wint (@dril) December 11, 2010
