NFT owners are plagued by scammers, five of whom have just been apprehended by French police. This arrest follows an investigation launched thanks to the investigations of ZachXBT, a blockchain detective very active on Twitter.
NFT theft: French police have arrested five crooks
In recent years, the NFT market has had to face a growing scourge, phishing. A study conducted by Comparitech on the issue reports 86 million dollars in NFTs stolen between 2020 and 2022. There were only 2 thefts in 2020, 14 in 2021 and the year 2022 alone totals 150 incidents. A few days ago, the French police apprehended five individuals suspected of being involved in an NFT theft case between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022.
Total damage is estimated at $2.5 million. Suspected cybercriminals would use a site of phishing to defraud their victims. Concretely, the fraudsters announce to the owners of NFT the possibility of transforming their static digital works of art into animated files. By clicking on the link provided by the scammers, the targets are redirected to the NFT phishing site. There, the victims unknowingly surrender the surrender codes of their properties.
An investigation triggered by the investigations of ZachXBT
According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the OCLCTIC (Central Office for the Fight against Crime linked to Information and Communication Technologies) has opened an investigation following the article by ZachXBT, published on August 9th. ZachXBT is an internet user who conducts extensive investigations into NFT thefts and other scams on the blockchain ecosystem. The analysis reports of this blockchain detective allowed the French police to arrest five individuals. They are aged 19 to 24 and live in Paris, Caen and Tours.
In fact, seven people were taken into custody. These are the five suspects with two parents. They have already been released. Two of the suspects are identified as the site’s developers. The other three were responsible for promoting the site and launching the phishing campaigns. They were also involved in money laundering. In this case, the French authorities have identified five victims. One of them was stealing 3 NFTs on her own.
ZachXBT, the blockchain vigilante?
This individual who calls himself ZachXBT on Twitter, has conducted a series of investigations and investigations into NFT/crypto scammers. Its main objective: to unmask fraudsters and denounce abuses on the blockchain. He deplores the meteoric rise in the number of scams in the ecosystem. “Over the past year, we’ve seen scammers get more creative with new ways to phish people on the Web3”he says.
ZachXBT is now known for his great skills in blockchain analysis. Beyond these investigations which allowed the French police to arrest the NFT thieves, he also helped a person recover $50,000 out of $240,000 of stolen Solana (SOL) coins. Last May, he also pushed the founder of Azuki NFT to promise reimbursement to investors who were victims of rug pull. And again, this is only a glimpse of his work.
Crypto investigators capable of solving all these cases of NFT theft and other crypto scams remain rare. And yet, the blockchain has no secrets. Just analyze the transaction history. This is what ZachXBT did.
Receive a digest of news in the world of cryptocurrencies by subscribing to our new service of daily and weekly so you don’t miss any of the essential Tremplin.io!
