OpenSea Looks To Improve Customer Support and Fight Fraud

The NFT marketplace will partner with Web3 communications platform Metalink in an effort to mitigate theft

article-image

Source: Shutterstock

share

key takeaways

  • Scammers allegedly impersonated OpenSea staff to steal funds from NFT holders
  • Last month, opportunists exploited OpenSea’s platform for over $1 million due to a user interface issue on its platform, according to Elliptic

OpenSea is launching a customer service server with Web3 communications platform Metalink in an effort to mitigate risk of fraudsters pretending to be members of the company’s staff. Alleged scammers have previously impersonated the marketplace’s employees to deceive NFT owners in OpenSea’s Discord, scamming them out of millions of dollars.

“OpenSea will be partnering with Metalink as we seek to engage more deeply with the NFT ecosystem,” Stevey Tromberg, OpenSea’s head of community, said in a statement. “Our goal is to create a direct channel for you to interact with OpenSea to get support, offer feedback, receive updates, and to share any other information that will help us better serve you.”

The company hopes to mitigate user risk via Metalink, which operates a “token gated” platform so that only users that own certain NFTs (non-fungible tokens) will have access.

Once users connect their cryptocurrency wallets to the platform, Metalink said, they’ll be connected with an “authenticated” customer support staff from OpenSea. There will be three official channels for OpenSea on Metalink, which include support, announcements and user feedback.

For the time being, Metalink said, these services can be utilized by certain holders, including owners of popular collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club, World of Women, Doodles and Cool Cats.

“This is one of many initiatives planned to expand the reach and effectiveness of our customer support reach, beyond just Discord,” Tromberg said. The new channels will have “dedicated community support staff from OpenSea spending a few hours a day in Metalink, all of whom will be marked as verified OpenSea staff.”

The announcement from OpenSea follows reports of users having their digital collectibles snatched up and resold at far below market value on the platform.

A spokesperson for OpenSea told Blockworks in a Jan. 25 statement that the company has since refunded 130 wallets of affected users, totaling 750 ether ($2.31 million as of Wednesday noon ET).

The loophole was not a bug or an exploit, according to the spokesperson, but rather a user interface issue that occurs when a user creates a listing then transfers the NFT to a different crypto wallet.

The leading NFT marketplace also faces a new competitive challenge from LooksRare, which hopes to lure OpenSea users by rewarding NFT traders with the new platform’s governance token, as well as a cut of the ether from each trade.

OpenSea did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
  • Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

morpho 2 graphic.png

Research

Utilizing a ‘DeFi Mullet’ approach, Coinbase’s Bitcoin-backed loans integration with Morpho demonstrates a powerful blueprint for CEXs to monetize dormant assets by expanding adoption of wrapped products (cbBTC, USDC) while also supporting native and/or preferred DeFi ecosystems (Base) which can further lead to downstream growth in onchain liquidity and increased utilization of the related assets.

article-image

The network is at a “pivotal juncture,” Blockworks Research’s Marc-Thomas Arjoon said

article-image

Altcoin trade volume has returned to pre-FTX levels, but with a shrinking pool of market leaders

article-image

Solana Foundation’s former head of strategy proposes increasing the disinflation rate

article-image

With much of the bitcoin mining supply chain based in Asia, US-based operations now face higher equipment prices

article-image

Anticipating an economic downturn, venture firms may be less likely to invest

article-image

Trump’s tariffs may have potentially significant impacts on GDP, household spending and food prices — if they hold