French authorities have utilised research-based insights from pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT to charge five people on grounds of suspicion for stealing $2.5 million worth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through phishing scams, as reported by Cointelegraph.
According to Cointelegraph, through an October report from the Agence France Presse (AFP) shared by Barron’s, the alleged fraudsters developed a website that masqueraded as a service to animate the static network from people’s Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFTs. The victims lost their credentials and NFTs stolen through the phishing website. It is believed that the five suspects conducted the scheme between late 2021 and early 2022, and have been charged with fraud committed as part of a criminal gang, concealing fraud and criminal association.
On the basis of information by Cointelegraph, Christophe Durand, deputy chief, France’s national cyber unit, told the AFP that it got clued into the incident post observation of an investigation done by self-proclaimed on-chain sleuth ZachXBT on Twitter. Durand provided the explanation that ZachXBT initiated an investigation with regard to requests from the community of owners of the BAYC series that had their tokens swiped.
Moreover, Cointelegraph noted that a part of the research revolved around the usage of alleged scammers’ usage of Tornado cash to mix and withdraw funds. ZachXBT emphasised that the mathys.eth address didn’t reveal anything in particular, as they withdrew intervals of 10 ETH to add value for the NFTs that were sold for, during their theft. ZachXBT has shared a series of on-chain investigations directed towards rug pulls, scams, hacks, pumps and dumps, among others, has a developed a Twitter base of 303,200.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
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