Last month, Seth Green was the victim of another phishing scam. The actor’s NFT collection, including Bored Ape #8398 or Fred Simian, was looted, putting an immediate halt to the production of his upcoming show which featured the Bored Ape NFT.
Fred Simian, Bored Ape #8398,” was previously in the possession of pseudonymous NFT collector “Mr Cheese.”
According to records from the blockchain, Fred Simian was transferred to the NFT wallet of Seth Green on Tuesday. He confirmed that it had been returned with the statement, “Fred is home.”
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When Seth Green threatened to sue the collector if they didn’t return his NFT last month, it seemed like he may have been trying for an out-of-court settlement. However, the records showed that 165 Ether ($297 thousand dollars’ worth of crypto currency) transferred from Green, nearly $100,000 more than it was bought for.
Fred Simian’s “suspicious activity” label on OpenSea has yet to be removed, despite being returned. The label shows that the NFT is frozen, keeping it from being bought or sold on the marketplace. On other services, however, it can still be transacted.
The transaction seems to indicate that the debacle is finally over after more than a month of controversy.
The event started in early May when Seth Green’s NFT collection was looted after falling into a phishing scam. The show White House Tavern, which featured characters from his collection, particularly Fred Simian who would have played prominently on screen, had been put on hold due to this unfortunate turn of events.
“I bought that ape in July 2021 and have spent the last several months developing and exploiting the IP to make it into the star of this show,” said Green last month. “Then days before – his name is Fred, by the way – days before he’s set to make his world debut, he’s literally kidnapped.”
Seth Green maintained he never lost the IP rights to Fred despite NFT getting stolen. However, without any legal precedent with new technology, this was left as an unclear area for him and other collectors who might want their work available on crypto assets in future.
The producer and actor, who had faced a month-long headache following the theft, can now return to work on their show without being worried about more problems.
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